


The Sun That Sets

by JD_Riley



Series: Victorian A/B/O [15]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alpha Raped, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Angst with a Happy Ending, Depression, Dubious Consent, Feral Behavior, Feral Rut, Fire, Historical, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Moderate Body Horror, Omega Verse, Omegaverse, Physical Disability, Rape, Scarring, Second Generation, Victorian, house fire, major angst, severe physical trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 18
Words: 63,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26488654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JD_Riley/pseuds/JD_Riley
Summary: Presenting as an Omega has given Redge Brackley every excuse to seek out all the affection he has longed for his whole life. He wants a husband--a mate. But only a few weeks into the season, London has fallen out of love with Mr. Brackley--suddenly. Devastatingly. He's done nothing wrong but has no recourse to discover the source of his quick dethroning and as such must make do with his new circumstances. If only he could have found the owner of the ever-elusive scent which has haunted every dark corner of his mind. If only he could find the Alpha of his dreams before his weary heart gives in...at great cost.
Relationships: Franklin Thornley/Redge Brackley
Series: Victorian A/B/O [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/695802
Comments: 193
Kudos: 192





	1. Chapter 1

There was a crispness to the earth around this time of year that usually made Redge Brackley excited. It was in the way the ground froze and crackled beneath his feet, the normally damp grasses crunching. We was usually excited for the way the moon grew too-large in mid-November and the air gained a supernatural coolness to it that heralded the snowfalls that made his childhood tinted with magic. He liked the way frost drew sharp patterns over the window panes and the way his breath looked when it steamed from between his lips. It taunted his imagination. It inspired him to dream of things he had not yet found in his life—the warmth of things to come.

He had been to several parties, much to the delight of his father, and London, like Mother Nature, was spiced with the dazzle of the Season. He had been teased and cajoled by many an Alpha, he had been pranced across dance floors and hidden in the center of huge clusters aimed to protect him. He had learned the language to survive and keep his virtue intact but alas, sometimes he supposed this must not have always been useful in obtaining anything of value—after all, he had done everything right…should he not be the toast of London still?

“I don’t understand,” his father murmured, the business man that he was, sitting on the other side of his large cedar wood desk imported from North America. A tall, slim but solid Alpha, Ulrich Brackley was a man who very often got what he wanted and sometimes by more than wiles alone. “For the past few weeks, you’ve been the darling of London. What’s gone wrong?”

“I cannot know, Papa,” Redge tried though he knew his voice to be soft enough that his father could not hear him.

“The papers adored you. Now there is not even a hint of you. Not even a scandal. What is it that you’ve done?”

There was a prick to his integrity here and he was not so low to ignore it. He spoke louder though only by a little so his father could hear him.

“I’ve done nothing to cause this, Papa. I’ve done everything right.” He thought of the many times he had stood like this in this particular study. His father had not gained enough wealth for this town home until Redge was nearly eight but still, he recalled many times thereafter standing upon this very Persian rug (or was it a similar one?) being scolded before he was spoiled by a doting parent whose love was shown in gifts alone rather than with affection. He stared down at the pattern in the carpet, now fully wondering if this was a new addition to replace an older, more threadbare one.

“If not your virtue then what?” He rubbed at his clean-shaven chin and his brows furrowed hard in thought. “Perhaps a vicious rumor spread by some rival. If so, then we will have to find out what it might be and set the record straight. Even so, a lacking in such an area would not keep the cash-poor gentry from sniffing at your heels. This must be something grave indeed.” He tapped at his temple. “Think, Reginald. If you’ve been kissed, I wish to know now. I won’t be angry.”

“I haven’t been kissed, Papa, though had I been, I could hardly be blamed for being reluctant to tell you. A gentleman could lose his head and I could then lose my father.”

“I should never seek to embarrass you by committing murder…I simply would not be caught.” He grinned finally, allowing for levity even as his hard Alpha scent implied naught but severity. “Reginald, I love you more than the world itself. More than all richness could buy. I built this business for you. I’ve gathered all my wealth for you. I bought Weirwood for you. So that you might have somewhere to live all your own with your husband and your children. I never thought to marry you to someone more than simply a gentleman so please…do not burden yourself with the worries of the common debutante…save that which would make even the gentlemen flee.”

“Papa, I told you—”

“Yes yes, that you’ve not been kissed. A boy does not have to be kissed for his name to become besmirched.” A warm glitter shined in his eyes and the scent of his affection was like the crunch of autumn’s first apple. “Come here.”

Redge shuffled to the side of the large desk and stood patiently while his father reached from where he sat to fuss with his already-perfect cravat and nip at the strands of his hair with two fingers as though wishing to tame it. This cold touch was rare and decisive, the only sort Ulrich Brackley was ever capable of, he supposed. “Papa…”

“Now remember…don’t find yourself alone—“

“Papa, I know.”

“And if they wish to play parlor games—“

“I’m not a fresh boy.”

The older Brackley sighed, setting his hands in his lap again. The side of his mouth tightened and concern shone in his eyes. “I do not know how to tell you this, my son…but yes…you are. You are only nineteen. It must seem so old to you but to a man like me, you seem very much the child I remember.”

He swallowed, feeling a frustrated lump in his throat. He was not a boy. He was not a child. He was an Omega which was nothing of the sort like what he used to be. He felt like a man, he felt grown—when would that simply be enough? His emotions produced a sour scent and speech wasn’t required for his father to comment again.

“One day you will see a boy of nineteen stare at you and you will know a father’s weary patience. Please. Be careful. I send you with your cousin as your chaperone but we both know he has been lax in his duties…you are cared for by your friends, the girls, but what of you if they become bitter toward you?”

“It seems that the men of the ton have bittered toward me first,” was his retort. “I’d rather not discuss it. They are very kind to me and I ought not speak of things I wish would not occur lest I invite them.”

“You’re right. But we will still have to discover what’s happened in your popularity. I’ve never heard of such a thing before…a boy as lovely as you are losing favor so quickly…even Cyril Muir scarred and brash as he was…even a man like him could capture a mate.”

Redge sought not to remind his father that Cyril Muir’s empire and wealth was worth a tidy sum, or several in fact, more than a handful of soap factories. The man could have looked every bit a tramp and rolled in the gutter before attending and still walk away with a mate. That was the benefit of being richer than Croesus. Instead of all that, he nodded slowly. There was an answer, of course, but what it was he couldn’t fathom. It would take a little snooping around…though snooping around was not Redge Brackley’s strong suit.

“Leave it to me,” his father said, patting his elbow lightly, a brush that was greatly unexpected which had Redge jumping softly with his shock from it. “I’ll have your cousin look into it and I’ll see what I can find out myself. Surely a few of my associates would have their ears to the ground…and should things go poorly…of course you know Mr. Gillenberd would…”

“He’s as old as grandfather,” Redge scoffed, crossing his arms before him, unnerved by his father’s unusual closeness. _He must be nervous,_ he thought. _He never reassures me in such a manner…_

“He’s lonely. Take pity on an old man. Aside, it won’t come to that anyhow. In the past few weeks, you had quite the look at all the young men…if you have a favorite, perhaps we shall allow your popularity to wane if only for the singular pursuit of one gentleman. Any thoughts?”

He had thoughts. He had plenty of thoughts. He had thoughts when he was near to sleep of the memories he’d found conjured by a very _particular_ scent. A scent so handsome he’d searched for it at every party and found its source ever elusive though he caught whiffs of it seemingly everywhere. He felt like a prince searching for his Cinderella—that one perfectly matched scent that would lead him to his mate. It was like dew clinging to evergreens, fresh as a damp forest of sprawling pines. He could recall it even now, as elusive as it was.

_The softness of the forest floor. The earthy scent of a glen described in some fairytale story. Tall grasses which tickle fingers along deer paths… Gone. Gone. Gone. Mingled with other things. Lost to other scents. Caught only as though one of life’s afterthoughts. The scent of memory. Or even of a ghost._

He had plenty of thoughts of which gentleman he wanted—that one. One he’d never seen before. The man was probably married. He was probably old or hideous or otherwise undesirable. Perhaps he would be the most evil of husbands, one that might call to mind the legend of Bluebeard.

_Oh but I might take the risk. If only I could find him. If only I could bring myself to his side if only for an evening to know him truly. To find my heart broken at the very least so that I might move on from his wonderful, handsome scent. I could lose myself to it but perhaps in knowing him and knowing all his imperfections and all the reasons I might not be able to have him—at least then I could move away from him…I could discover all that would make him unsuitable and I could reject him from my heart._

_“_ Redge?” his father asked curiously. “Thoughts?”

He cleared his throat quietly into his hand. “I do not. I’ve no preference.”

“Not Mr. Bell? Mr. Dawson? Mr. Hunt? Not even Lord Carmody?”

He stared at his father with something half resembling alarm forcing his heart to beat hard in his chest. “Have you been…”

“Reading your dance cards.”

He let out a relieved breath. “Gods, I thought you were…”

“Stalking you?” he gave half a chuckle, “No, dear boy. I’ve much too much work to be doing such an inane type of thing. If I had been stalking you, I’d know exactly why you’ve lost your in with society so quickly already. I fancy I’d be quite efficient at the matter. Perhaps that’s what I should have been doing the whole time. But no use. I just want you to be happy, Redge. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

He sighed. “I…I know.”

“Listen, I’ve work to do. Letters to write and the like. You find your cousin and go for a stroll in the park. Perhaps you’ll find some gentlemen there that you can bandy on with. Mayhap you’ll ask them to join you for afternoon tea.”

Redge rolled his eyes, wondering how in the world he ever managed to get on with a father like this. He drew himself out of the room to the large foyer where he gathered his light-colored coat and walked out onto the steps where he found his cousin standing. Thomas was leaning, really, on the side of the house, a rolled cigarette hanging from his lip and his hat pulled down to cover his eyes though the sun was covered up by low-hanging clouds that seemed ready to threaten snow. The family wasn’t used to wealth. They’d all had to come to terms with it when his father had managed to make decent investments and find his way through London’s tougher markets by sheer willpower and wit—more of the former than the latter, unfortunately. Of course, the effect of this sudden dip into the higher reaches of society was that nobody knew quite how to act—that was, except for Redge who had been young enough to be schooled by a decent and effective governess. He was also the first of his family to ever attend at Eton.

Redge felt himself prickle at the sight of his cousin. “Thomas, might you be a tad bit more refined in your stance? This is a proper house, not one of those rundown little places you spend your nights.”

“I don’t spend my nights at the gambling hells.”

“Whatever they are.”

He grinned, his teeth yellow from chewing tobacco. “I go home with the girls, you silly little git.”

“Yes, you remind me of that sometimes,” he replied, sliding his gloves over his hands. “My father wishes for you to take me for a walk in the park.”

“I’ve the carriage already,” Thomas replied, “though it was not to go to the park.” He grumbled a little bit before he cast an eye shined in mischief over Redge’s form. “You really want to go to the park, little one? We might find you some real fun should you go with me where I really wish to go.”

“Thomas,” he replied shortly, “I would rather dip my head into a vat of tar than go wherever it is that you might wish to go. I’ve already lost my popularity among the ton and I have a sneaking suspicion it’s got quite a bit to do with your actions.”

He drew up, his brows coming together and his mild Beta tone sharpening. “I’ve not done a single thing to hurt your little queenly status, I’ll have you know. I’ve even kept my head with all the damned Alphas you’ve been dancing with. They’re all a bunch of cads, I’ll have you know.”

“Cads who used to dance with me. Now they don’t.”

“Did you really want to be dancing with a bunch of sour sods like that?”

“Mr. Hunt was hardly a sour sod.” He tapped down the steps as the carriage approached, climbing in it when it had come to a full stop. He pulled his hat a little tighter over his head and made sure the tips of his ears were tucked under before he adjusted his scarf around his throat for warmth against the nipping wind. “Come, Thomas. I don’t wish to lose the daylight so quickly and I need to be out of this house.”

“You’re such a spoiled little thing,” the Beta replied, climbing in beside him and telling the driver to head on toward the park. “Everything that happens around here happens just for you. Would that I could have been in your shoes. Sweetened milk and chocolate every morning, your father doting on you with all those gifts like he does.” He grumbled again, shoving his feet upon the wooden bench across from them. “You might as well have trouble finding a mate. At least you’d have something to overcome for once.”

Redge didn’t reply. He nearly never did. There was no point in entertaining outbursts like this when it came to the rest of his family. He was not as spoiled as they must have thought…at least, he didn’t think he was. After all, he hadn’t a mother and as such, he had acquired through his life so little physical affection that any touch whatsoever now was a shock and distinctly unnerving…and yet.

_It is all I wish for. From someone who might touch me unbidden. I don’t simply want someone to touch me with tenderness—I want them to touch me with the heat of daring and the warmth of passion. I want someone to overwhelm me. I want someone who will make me yearn for them—who will not shy from me and will teach me not to shy from them._

He thought, often, that his situation was rather dismal. Most lovely young Omegas were in such a state, he thought. Except those from the lower classes who sold themselves to survive or were debased enough to entertain themselves in rather lustful ways. He gritted his teeth together, knowing it to be wrong to be selfishly jealous of what he thought might have been a strange sort of freedom. It was all well and good in _theory_ but in the fact of the matter, he was not so naïve to forget that those who sold their bodies in the streets did not do so for pleasure. Still—he wished he could find passion. He wished he could find a person who might touch him freely. Every gentleman who gently placed their hands upon him for dancing could likely smell his excitement—his fluttering heartbeat and his nervousness at such closeness.

They liked that. He knew they did. So why had they left him all alone?

_I must be boring. It is expected, I suppose. I do naught but read and sketch like all the other Omegas. I like fiction novels and drawing flowers. I studied at Eton but my favorite things are so rather like normal Omegas—perhaps there really is no difference between myself and my contemporaries. I am…undistinguished. Unremarkable. Even, dare I imagine—distasteful?_

He frowned at his boots and gathered the heavy wool carriage blanket around his legs as the air was colder than he thought it would be. 

When they reached the park, there were a few carriages about and a few gentlemen strolling but none of them cared to look at him. He wandered with Thomas for his walk, pausing at a bench where an unfamiliar Alpha sat, the man clearly more interested in chatting with the Beta than with Redge and so the Omega kicked at rocks along the path, meandering about until he had come upon a tree not too far away, the sun shining down through a hole in the clouds not far away while a few fat white snowflakes began to sprinkle down around him.

This time of year used to make him excited. Perhaps he had simply outgrown such an emotion. Now, he wasn’t certain what he thought about it. His eyes scanned the treeline before he leaned against the bark of his own tree beside him, taking in a small breath through his nose.

 _Spruce?_ His heart leaped and he jumped back, regarding the bark closely and finding a tiny nip of it that had caught a small bit of a gentleman’s wool coat, tearing it and keeping about an inch-worth of fiber. He picked the dark navy bit of it from the bark with his fingers, carefully looking about before he brought it to his nose.

 _Yes! Yes that’s him!_ He held it cupped in his palm, his heart racing. _Sunlight and sparkling wine. The barest hint of that forest filled with spruces and firs. Earth in all its wonder and glory. Alpha though understated. As though he had brushed against this tree while leaning only for a moment._

He quickly pulled off his glove by the fingers and touched his palm to the bark, hoping somehow to feel the vestige of warmth leftover from a glancing encounter. It was cold.

_I want to find you, Alpha. I want to know. I want to know after all—could you be mine?_


	2. Chapter 2

It was a large gathering. These were the hardest to control. Franklin still wasn’t certain how he had finally managed it but it was done now and the Alpha whisper network was working perfectly to keep his will in place. He had never considered himself a puppet-master before this but it seemed that exerting pressure in just the right places was something he was good at when he wished to be. The lights from a thousand candles glimmered above dancers who moved over the floor in seamless motion. The Omegas were loosely clustered, feeling much more free now than they had in previous events this season. They would likely tighten up as the night moved on but before they did, Alphas were keen to take advantage of the easy dancing selections. Except one.

He was demurely standing along the edge of the cluster, his eyes moving from Alpha-to-Alpha, his head gently tilted upward as though he were thrusting out his chin though Franklin recognized that motion—he was _sniffing_. He was testing the noxious Alpha-loaded air for something and surely he could never find it. Not with all the different scents mashed together. It was enough to turn a stomach without the french doors at the side of the ballroom flung wide to allow for a cool, welcome breeze. But nevertheless, he was taking gentle sips of air, as though he were waiting to smell something irresistible.

“Still pining?” came a voice from behind him, drawing his attention to his friend, the Baron Ildry. His voice was low and smooth, always teasing and consistently getting him into trouble with Omegas. “You know, he’s not going to wait around forever.”

“Nobody will bother him,” Franklin replied easily, still feeling a trace of uncertainty in his gut.

“He’s got too much money to be off-limits for overly long. Some man will decide he’s had enough of this game you’re playing and offer for him.”

“I’m not playing a game.”

“Then just dance with him, Frank.” He made a vague gesture toward the sweet Omega, dressed well in a delicate powder blue with the barest froth of lace at the edges of his neck bow. He was a vision, his cheeks pinched to a subtle pink and his hands together in front of him, waiting for a dance from a willing partner who would never come. “He’s right there. He’s ripe for you. He’s waiting for you to make your move.”

“He’s waiting for someone…but not for me.”

“Do I have to tell you the next part?” Ildry asked, his voice taking on a tone that Franklin didn’t particularly like. It was resigned. It was pitying. “He’s not a beast you can keep in a gilded cage, Alpha. He’s a flesh and blood Omega. He needs a partner. He needs love…not whatever it is you’re fostering.”

Franklin wasn’t sure he could tell the man what it was he was fostering. Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t love. If it was love, it was twisted and strange. It was misshapen from all of his hand-wringing anxiety over the matter. He couldn’t get the boy out of his head and yet he couldn’t simply walk up to him and talk to him.

“Ildry,” he started, his voice strong despite his emotions, “I’m a weak man.”

“If you were a weak man, no Alpha would listen to your threats and cajoling. If you were a weak man, they would take advantage of you and and spit in your face, and steal your Omega right out from under you. But they don’t. Because they know you’ve a will that is ironclad.”

“If I’ve a will that’s ironclad, why can I not simply go up to him and speak with him? Why does the very thought of being too close to him send a chill through my blood?” He felt useless and he cast an unsure glance to his friend—his only friend who knew of this strange affliction.

“Frank, Alpha…you’ve never in your life had anyone tell you no, have you?”

“If you think I’m afraid of rejection…”

“I do. And I think I know exactly why you’re afraid of such a thing. Come. Drinks. He’ll be alright if you’re not staring at him the whole damn party and you have a drink with me.” Ildry led him to a quiet parlor not so far away as to be immune from the sound of the party and immediately went to the sideboard to fetch him some brandy. When he’d gotten them both a glass, he leaned against the davenport and spoke softly as not to aide any eavesdroppers. “You’ve been rejected before.”

Franklin’s brows furrowed. “I don’t recall.”

“Yes you do. You’ve never been rejected to your face, of course. But you had that little childish affection for a particular estate manager at your country home, didn’t you? You admitted it to me when we were at Cambridge. You’d presented as an Alpha and you were simply _wild_ about this completely unsuitable Omega—older than you by a good number of years.”

He felt his face heat with both embarrassment and a hard remembrance. He had been absolutely besotted once before but that was the fantasy of boyhood. That wasn’t anything serious. It wasn’t as though he could marry the estate manager. In fact, that Omega, far too old for him anyhow, had been, and still was, married to his own father’s valet. Not to mention he had been unfortunate enough to discover that his own mother and that very estate manager were rather more intimate than he would ever have guessed. He supposed many households were like that, folks always seemed to be groping for fish in peculiar rivers and having children on the wrong side of the blanket. He’d long ago quit thinking that anyone else’s household was normal—how could they be when his was so tangled and strange?

Franklin cleared his throat. “It wasn’t rejection.”

“Oh yes, he was married, I remember. But still, accepting that something in an impossibility is always difficult for a young man. Such a thing could have scarred you, surely.”

“I am not scarred,” he grumbled, taking a gulp of his brandy. “Admitting to a childish affection is not scarring in the slightest. Every boy has fantasies.”

“Make your fantasy real, Frank,” Ildry insisted. “You’ve all this command over the Alphas of the ton and you’re wasting it. Eventually someone will become bored of all of this and will challenge you and then what? You fight him?”

“It’s happened before.”

“Which is why they do what they do now. They defer to you despite your low rank because they don’t wish to be embarrassed by you. You’re big. That’s your asset. You’re large and you have that look in your eye that suggests you might not care if you accidentally killed them. To look at you, you are your father’s son but to see the way you command them, you might as well be the heir to Asterly.”

He gulped at his brandy, turning toward the window where he could see torches lining the drive, letting out small circles of warm yellow and orange light. “I am far weaker than the line of Asterly.”

“How can you say that?”

“At the very least, Asterly’s heir has ventured where I fear to tread.”

Ildry gave pause for a moment, puzzled. “He’s…he’s not married.”

“He can at least speak with the girl he loves. Despite his inability to marry her, he has at least become friends with her—close with her. They are constantly together. They hunt together, they fish together…they are seldom parted. That he cannot love her romantically does not seem to bother their deep friendship.”

Ildry peered at him curiously as Franklin turned around to face him. “You mean Lady Trenton? Well I’d known of the friendship between Tichtan and Trenton but I’d not known it to be anything _amorous_.”

“He wishes to present. To marry her,” Franklin stated plainly.

“Well it would be a fine match indeed. I hope he does.” He lifted his glass in silent solidarity and then sipped it. “Perhaps then you should take his courage to heart. Just…speak with your Omega. _Once_ would be enough. Then you could know for sure.”

“What if, when he smells me, he does not like what he senses?”

“Do I have to beat you to death with my own damned fists? Even if he spurns you, it is not the end of everything. The fact that he is even here and hasn’t chosen the easier route—that is to be married to some officer—is enough to know that he is open and willing to be courted. What would the matter be with you? Not to mention, he will certainly not be the last male…think of all the odd sets that were our parents’ age. They’re bound to have more darling Omega sons. That is…if it is the _maleness_ of him that’s attracted you.”

Franklin poured himself another brandy and slowly paced, restless suddenly. “It is something about _him._ Alpha, I cannot describe it. It is in his scent…fleeting and vague as it is. Would that could simply press my nose against his throat…to find more of him. It is, in part, his maleness. I would be a liar to claim otherwise. But it is more than just that. His eyes…his lips…his _scent_. If I were a poetic man, I could be writing sonnets for him.”

“Recite someone else’s sonnets to him,” Ildry replied. “You’re beginning to bore even me. I’m half the mind to dance with him just to spite you. Who knows, it might give him hope. He’s been souring ever since the Alphas stopped coming to him.”

“Nothing could sour him…”

“Oh yes it could—you don’t realize how much an Omega needs to be loved and cherished…even if it is shallow and from a multitude.”

“Please. Do not scold me. I’ve gotten enough of it from my brother.”

“Your brother is right.”

“I’ve been too long away from him. Forgive me, Ildry if I do not take your advice…at least right now. I will speak with him…soon. I merely need to wait for the best moment. A moment when I can keep my hands from shaking. Excuse me.” He took his brandy with him, exiting the parlor and making his way to the ballroom again.

Mr. Brackley was now in the center of the Omega cluster which had tightened up around him. He was chatting with the amiable girls surrounding him and was quite safe from the Alphas prowling about the edges. At Franklin’s reemergence into the room, the scents and mood seemed to change a little bit as he was noticed, becoming far less predatory as he circled about and made eye-contact with several of the more vulturine Alphas. It was a blatant challenge that most shied from and Franklin was not above using his size and his reputation as a sportsman to his advantage. It had the unique side-effect of allowing the cluster to relax and loosen as those rapacious Alphas moved away and allowed them to breathe.

The son of a businessman, Mr. Brackley was more or less snubbed by a number of debutantes with noble family ties but he found allies here and there and was not prone to squandering them. Educated well, he had been young when his family came into their fortune and he was the best result of it. His family was often what left a bitter taste in the mouths of those who wished to befriend him—particularly his chaperone, a less-than-charming Beta fellow who spent more time gaming than looking out for his cousin. If it weren’t for Brackley’s own know-how and Franklin’s meddling, it would not be surprising to find the poor boy could be easily tainted.

Franklin set his empty glass down on a serving boy’s tray as he passed and sought to circle a little closer, careful to capture fleeting glimpses of the boy through the crowd as he went to always keep his position in mind. There was a strangeness to the night, he decided, when he walked by the open french doors. A chilliness had seeped into the room and it seemed it would not leave now despite the bodies present and the burning scent of Alpha which permeated the air. He needed this boy. He needed him and yet he could not touch him.

He was graceful, refined, and perfect. Everything about him was lovely and sweet. He glowed with youthful vigor and his eyes, ever forlorn, shined with something undefined in any poet’s heart. Mr. Brackley without his own knowledge, could destroy Franklin with a glance. He could drive a stake through his heart and render him to dust should he only just peer at him with any sort of warmth at all. Should the boy come to know that he could drive Franklin to heights and depths with only his gaze then it would come to pass that perhaps he could utilize all of his Omega fickleness to eliminate him entirely. After all, Franklin’s heart had already been broken once as a boy—he could not anticipate the intensity of a shattering now.

_You don’t trust him._

How could he? Omegas were callous, cruel little creatures. They didn’t much seem like it at the first but it was apparent as soon as they knew their own power. It was best to formulate a plan before one sought to strike.

_And what is the plan?_

He’d no idea.

_You’re a hapless coward. If only everyone knew what Ildry knew. Then you’d be forced to fight every damned Alpha in this place who wanted a dance with your Omega. Even the idea of his being yours is laughable. What will happen when he finds out that you could not even speak to him for your fear was so great? Your fear of his own inherent power as a man who might tell you ‘no.’ His discovery of your true nature—_

_Stop._

He swallowed, unsure if his frustration was bleeding badly enough to make anyone around him nervous. Without thinking, he stepped out onto the terrace to find Mr. Brackley’s chaperone leaning upon the marble rail, smoking.

“Evening, Alpha,” he greeted, the informality of their first meeting grating on Franklin’s nerves. He was dressed in fashion but had a rumpled air about him and he smelled quite drunk.

“One normally waits to be introduced, Beta,” he reminded the man, almost to the point of pitying him for his lacking manners. It wasn’t his fault, Franklin supposed, that he was not so versed in the idiosyncrasies of high society. However, it was really no excuse when one had so many years to learn after having coming into money.

“Are we introduced?” he asked, his voice mumbling as though his lips and tongue couldn’t quite agree. “Nevermind then. You’re all a bunch of highbrow pumpkins anyhow. I’m only here for the brat.”

Franklin’s hackles were rising considerably at the suggestion that Mr. Brackley was any way less than a gentleman. “You are Mr. Brackley’s chaperone, yes?”

“Thomas, you can call me.”

“Right. Thomas. Do you not think you would better serve him if you had not drowned yourself in drink?”

The man’s brows furrowed considerably. “Do you think your opinion is worth something to me, Alpha? Is it that you’re rich? Do you think I should consider your thought more readily than I consider my own?”

“You’re drunk, Beta.”

“ _You’re_ drunk.”

He gave a great sigh and turned on his heel. It was not so much a detriment to him if Mr. Brackley was forced to leave early for the ineptitude of his chaperone. There would be talk, of course, but there was always talk. It would, actually, behoove him to allow the boy go home early as it would give him considerably less to worry about. So naturally he flagged down a passing footman and enlightened the head servants as to the goings-on so that they might take Thomas and at the very least give him a room to recover in or at the very worst send him home with his charge.

The solution was the latter and Franklin watched dispassionately from afar as Mr. Brackley’s face remained stoic even as his manner became icy toward his companion.

Ildry arrived at his side again. “This was your doing, I suppose. Gracious, having such a terrible guardian must wear on a man’s nerves.”

Franklin agreed. “He’s certainly got the temperament to handle it well.”

“Truly. Though for all we know, he could sound like a fishwife when the coach door is closed.”

“Could you blame him if he did?”

“Absolutely not. Tell me…have you decided when you’ll speak with him?”

“No.”

“Of course not. Come on. Let’s get as drunk as Brackley’s chaperone and lose some money at cards. Perhaps if you wake up tomorrow with a splitting headache, you’ll forget how much of a dunce you were tonight.”

_Perhaps_ , Franklin thought solemnly. _But probably not._


	3. Chapter 3

The last of his flowers were moldering away, the roses providing a musty bittersweet scent as their petals crisped and fell. He hadn’t allowed the staff to take them away quite yet as they had been lovely when they were alive and even in death they seemed to have a particular charm. Like the birds which twittered away at the hints of first frost, he knew of their glory by the silence in their wake. Letters he’d answered were in a stack on his small writing desk. They had all been answered. There were none he had overlooked. Not a single answer had come from any of the men with which he had previously conversed. It had been as though some sort of avalanche had come to dam a river—it had been so catastrophic and sudden that it was the only thought he could muster.

With nothing left for him to do, he wandered the house, marveling at how cold it could be. Should Weirwood be so cold, he would most certainly have to find a mate then. For how else could he warm himself?

He looked around to make certain that there was no one who could smell him become excited and then allowed for his daydreams. A big, strong Alpha. An Alpha who could pick him up and lift him with little effort at all, who could bring him down and envelope him in strong arms and kiss him tenderly and then voraciously. He knew how deeply a man could kiss him—he knew more than his father would have thought prudent, likely. He had seen Thomas hidden in the dark spaces of the garden when he thought no one was awake. He had seen his cousin kissing girls he ought not kiss anywhere, much less the shadows of a decent London garden. But oh how such scenes had given Redge _ideas_. Ideas he would hold onto forever—imaginings of being held tightly and pressed down into his mattress. Ideas that caused him to hold his pillows over him as though their weight could be in any fashion comparable to that of his dream Alpha.

What he wouldn’t give for the man’s scent. His true scent, not this evasive, bastardized version he always seemed to find. What he wouldn’t give to finally see the Alpha he pined for. Would he be handsome? Would he be an old doddering toad?

He found the frame of a window which overlooked the street below and he leaned against it, pressing his forehead against the chilly pane. His breath fogged the glass and he whispered softly to himself.

“ _Oh God…please let him be handsome. Let him be handsome even if he cannot be mine. Such beauty in a scent cannot be without beauty in a face and soul…surely…_ ”

He watched the coaches clatter by over the cobblestone for a minute or two until his eyes were caught by the flash of a little red scarf as the boy who wore it opened the iron gate and walked toward the house. A courier by the look of him and not one his father normally utilized. Those couriers were grown men with leather cases who walked like they always had somewhere to be—which he supposed a courier always _did_ have somewhere to be—and never had time to really see the world they inhabited. This one was a young boy, perhaps only thirteen or fourteen and he stooped along the walk to pet the cat Redge had been leaving milk for by the kitchen door each night.

Curious, the Omega wandered toward the stairs which led to the entrance hall and watched as Utley dragged open the thick wooden door to permit the boy to enter. With a small bow, an envelope was given and the child glanced upward toward him before he rushed off again into the dampness of the London landscape.

“Oh,” Utley murmured, turning about as Redge made his way down the steps, “it is for you, young Mr. Brackley. A welcome note, to be sure.” His warm smile was difficult to keep from spreading and even Redge, in his melancholy could not deny it, allowing its infectiousness to overtake him.

“Thank you, Utley. I cannot imagine who—”

_The graceful brush of long grass gone to seed…_

His breath caught in his throat and the first stirrings of panic began to clutch at his heart. A heavy stone lodged in his throat.

“Mr. Brackley?” Utley tried, coming toward him and placing a steadying hand upon his shoulder. “Are you alright? A scent you know? It means naught to me but…”

“I…” he tried, staring down at the scrawl that marred the parchment envelope.

_**R. Brackley** _

Written in a hand without obvious care—nonchalant as though the man knew already that he had won this peculiar Omega’s heart. What could he have written? What could he have possibly wished to convey to a boy he had never before met in person? Could he have known that Redge was desperate for him? Could he have purposefully left his scent to find? Every unlikely scenario flooded him all at once and he could barely contain himself. Every fantasy he had held was crashing over him and he reached up, placing his hand over Utley’s on his shoulder.

“Mr. Brackley, shall I call for help?”

“N-No. I…I…I will take myself to my room. I cannot explain. This has simply caught me rather off guard, you see.” Rather off guard was one way of thinking of it. Like a ship in irons, he felt as though he were facing down a storm wrought by the hand of God himself. By the time he managed to drag himself into his room, his scent was rife with his panic and his whole body was trembling madly. He could scarce feel his fingers when he peeled away the nondescript wax seal and unfolded the parchment, revealing a script that was practiced and yet careless in its execution of style. Masculine, _handsome_ even…

> _Dear Mr. Brackley,_

> _I have spent hours contemplating how I might convey the most simplistic of emotions but when they are to be conveyed to you, dear sir, I find it unfeasible. There has been a reduction of my form—I am no longer human in your wake but have been gnashed and whittled down into a being with one aim, and that is only to crave. Please do not think less of me for my crudeness. I fear great pain. I fear great love. I fear you._

He flipped the missive over to find nothing more and was befuddled for many moments at the lack of a name. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing but this scent he had coveted only minutes prior and now that there was a soundless voice attached to it, he could not be satisfied so easily. He pressed the paper to his nose, pulling in the harshness of a fuller scent and reveling in all it could provide him. It had not been purposefully scented—merely a byproduct of having been handled and as such, it was as though it still bore some mask, its appearance to his senses marked by brevity though it lingered far better than traces left.

_Haunting. Circling. Sparkles of dew dripping from the freshest sprigs of evergreen, dripped and dribbled only as the heedless deer meander through and flick their ears this way and that. Hoofprints left in loose dirt, cloven and evidenced by still-damp patches of mud in spring. Hawks circling overhead, vying for small game to swoop down and slaughter, their golden eyes seeing all as they glide and turn, waiting for a chance to strike._

_I fear great pain. I fear great love. I fear you._

What was there to fear? He was small. He was soft. He was quiet. There was nothing great about Redge Brackley. There was nothing large or imposing or in any way intimidating. He held no sway in politics or power of any sort. What could he possibly do to a man that would cause him to fear?

He held the note to his chest, his heart beating hard beneath it in a quick staccato. He could scarce believe this. That the man he had been scenting near to him should write him and that it would be _such_ a letter. It was plain-speaking which was more than welcome and though the hand was clearly that of an educated fellow, it held a carelessness that was indicative of a man who did not much care what others might have thought.

_Oh, I should not pick it apart so…I will create some specter that cannot be recreated in life and I will regret my musings when he cannot match to them._

Still, it did no good to tell himself off. He was imagining what sort of man could have sent such a note to him for hours. He folded the parchment and kept it in his breast pocket close to his heart for the whole of the day. He daydreamed as he wandered in the garden, his ears nipped from the chilly breeze and the ground crisp with the hint of frost. What he wouldn’t give to smell that scent on frozen mornings in winter, warm in the arms of a man who might press him down into his mattress and spread his legs and—

He let out a loose breath, the steam billowing through the cold air. He suddenly wished he was alone in his bed, stroking himself like he was wont to do. Omegas were passionate creatures, he was told. They were prone to acting out when their emotions were high and they were awfully prone to emotions of a sexual nature. He couldn’t deny the claim. Not for himself, anyhow. He felt as though all he could think about sometimes was how much he wished for a man—really _this_ man, whose scent haunted him—to ease between his thighs and do any number of shocking things to him. 

He supposed that sometimes it didn’t have to be _this_ man. It could be anyone. He’d fantasized about a lovely female Alpha who might come to him. He’d fantasized about young, virile Beta men who seemed still to be a mystery to him. He’d even, lord help him, fantasized about being held down and taken by force. It seemed that almost no fantasy was off-limits when his body was buzzing to life with wild arousal and he couldn’t help but embrace it for everything it was—even the ones that shocked him in their moral depravity. He liked them. He liked them all.

“ _What_ is this weird smell?”

Redge stiffened considerably, turning around suddenly and nearly stumbling. Thomas had come from the house for some reason or another—perhaps to tell him to come inside for it was probably too cold for him to be wandering about without his hat—and was now close enough to smell him.

“Good lord, what are you doing out here? You’ve got the queerest scent.”

Alarmed, Redge didn’t reply to him. What could he say? _I’ve been standing out here daydreaming about Alphas between my legs, what the hell do_ you _do in your daydreams?_ Instead, he let out a distressed little sigh and pushed passed the man on his way back to the house.

“Hey! I heard you got a note today.”

Redge still didn’t answer him, stomping his way toward the veranda.

“Redge, come on, I didn’t mean to tease you.” He had loped to catch up, his steps heavy behind the Omega. “Tell me of your suitor. That’s who the letter was from, right? A man who’s got his eye on yah, no doubt. There’s no excitement here anymore. No flowers comin’ from all the gents. You have to tell me about this one, right?”

“I don’t have to do anything,” he replied curtly, tapping up the stone steps and making his way into the house. Almost immediately, he took off his boots, walking over the cold floors in his socks while the servants took his coat and gloves. When he got to the stairs and was up one, he turned around to face Thomas eye-to-eye. “Might you do me a favor, cousin?”

“What’s that?” he asked, his eyes alight with mischief.

“Go to the devil.”

He frowned. “I thought you liked me. Wouldn’t you like a sympathetic ear? I could give you advice.”

“I need no advice from a reprobate like you.”

The Beta ran around him up the stairs and turned around to block him from his travel upward. “I’m your chaperone, if you don’t recall, Omega. If I don’t like something, it doesn’t happen. Now tell me about your letter.”

“Are you suggesting that you’re to blame for all my suitors disappearing? I find that a rather silly little claim if that’s what you mean to say. No Alpha would find you intimidating enough to leave me be.”

_I fear you._

He himself seemed to have more power in that regard than he could have ever imagined his cousin to have. The recollection made him swallow thickly. “If you do have anything to do with it, you can be assured my father will—”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve got nothing to do with any of that nonsense. But I may have a method of fixing it. In fact, I’ve got a friend of sorts who would like to be introduced to you. I spoke of you the other evening and he seemed quite interested.”

“Is there any reason I should be interested in _him_? If he’s chummy with you, I don’t see one.” He made to move around his cousin but found a hand keeping him where he was, not touching him yet but close enough that he felt a righteous indignation at the attempt. “Cousin, if you do not move from my path, I will make certain you feel my retribution tenfold.”

“Simply listen to me, you mindless little twit,” he replied in a low tone. “Your options are limited. I suggest you take me up on the offer. He’s a decent man and I had the suspicion that it was he who sent you that note. He’s a very discreet fellow so I doubt he’s left a name to it. But if you let me see it…”

“I’ll do no such thing. Stay out of my private affairs—” He paused. If it was Thomas’s friend…if this man who haunted his dreams each night really was a friend of his cousin—did it matter to him what his moral objections were? _Don’t be silly, of course it does. If he’s a rake and a scoundrel just like my cousin then I shouldn’t have anything to do with him._ That was, of course, the logical method of thinking for a man in his position but his heart ached and his instincts were simmering with the possibility of finding an Alpha who could sate him after all this time of waiting.

Thomas’s mouth was tight. “Redge, all I want to do is go back to whatever it was I was doing before I was roped into becoming your chaperone. That means I would like you married as much as you would like yourself to be married. If there’s a chance—”

“Very well.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Very well. Introduce me to your friend. If I think he’s a bore then nothing will come of it. If he did indeed write this letter to me then I can be assured that he is _not_ a bore and I will consider him further.”

The edges of Thomas’s smile curled much like the edges of paper blackened by a fire and the sight of it was enough to make Redge slightly uneasy. “Good. I think you’ll find him acceptable. Considering the current state of your prospects, perhaps you should reconsider the stringent nature of your ideal husband.”

“Is this supposed to soften the blow when he is fifty and without his hair? Get out of my way once and for all, damn it,” he snapped, suddenly angry at the thought that his beloved Alpha scent might belong to someone he found decidedly unattractive. Thankfully, he did not have to try to stomp his cousin’s toes with his socked feet as the man moved out of his way to the other side of the stairwell. “Thank you,” he provided rather as an afterthought while he made his way up the stairs, his scent musty with a tang of anger.

No doubt that if the Alpha knew Thomas, it was not for any decent manner of meeting. Perhaps agreeing to meet him was a mistake…but it was also perhaps a mistake worth making. _Oh, you little fool. You’ll let yourself be ravaged if only for a touch. The_ right _touch. The only touch worth having. That which could wake the lurid fantasies which lay in wait within you. You’d do anything for that touch…even marry a man who wishes to use you for your father’s money. For your body. For anything at all if only he will touch you where nobody else has before._ He was above many things but he never once thought himself above any Omega who could not withhold themselves from being compromised. He felt their desires. He felt it so strongly, he could hardly imagine any other form of being. How had he felt when he was still a green Beta before presentation? Had he felt such lust? Such desperation?

He locked himself in his room and immediately began to take off his clothes, shedding them onto the floor with graceless abandon after withdrawing the precious note he’d concealed in his pocket before he pulled and twisted at the bedclothes, fiddling with his nest like he was wont to do. He found his favorite pillow—the one that was the firmer of the bunch—and climbed atop it, holding it tight between his thighs. He held the letter tenderly between his fingers, taking small sips of it at first while he began his steady rocking.

_One day I’ll find you, Alpha. One day I’ll know. And if you’re not in any way suitable—I can’t know at all if I’ll care._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on vacation and getting absolutely nothing done. Is that how you vacation???


	4. Chapter 4

Franklin’s father had always kept his study as a sanctuary away from everyone else in the house—especially his children. Whenever they had to speak with him, for any reason at all, they were shuffled into the parlor that the children had always had for their own use and scolded in the soft way his father scolded. This time, Franklin found himself standing in front of his father’s desk, his eyes on the inkwell. Next to him was his older brother, Felix, an Omega who was far too clever for his own good and the one who, Franklin assumed, would take the brunt of this particular scolding.

“Perhaps you should both sit down.” The Viscount’s voice was calm and appealing and very smooth for an Alpha.

He peered behind him at the chair that was nearby and didn’t feel much like sitting. Felix found his seat easily, sinking down onto the near settee, comfortable and not a bit nervous. Why should he be? It was not as though he ever got into any trouble at all. He was the _favorite_ , after all. Franklin sighed.

“Frank?” his father asked, peering at him from his seat.

“Yes, Father,” he breathed, finally sitting down. There was too much ire in him. It was making his joints stiff.

“The first thing I want to happen here is an apology. From you, Felix. I want you to apologize to your brother for having made things difficult for him.”

Felix scoffed. “Absolutely not.”

“Felix.”

The insolent Omega placed his feet up on the settee and cast an incredulous stare toward the Alpha who demanded this of him, his blatant disregard for his father’s wishes something of a novelty in this house. There was no one else on Earth who could be so informal and disrespectful toward the Viscount Ormsby. “You wish for me to tell this boy that I’m sorry for meddling in his affairs when he is the one torturing a poor Omega who was having a very fine season indeed before he began losing every prospect without a single inkling as to why. Your son is very quickly becoming the villain of some sordid novella. He’s not once spoken to this boy. Did you think I could let this happen? Did you think I could allow him to go on like this?”

“That’s enough, Felix. Whatever your brother has done has nothing to do with you.”

His sweet Omega scent was beginning to alter, becoming musty with his dissatisfaction in the course of the argument. “Nothing to do with me? Of course it’s got nothing to do with me—but you cannot expect me to stand idle while he breaks a boy’s heart without ever growing the courage to speak to him!” His gray eyes flashed in the firelight, shiny and filled with a vivid anger. “I cannot watch my brother destroy a boy’s dreams and social prospects for nothing to come of it. I won’t.”

“You will if I send you back to the country.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Ormsby jutted out his chin, his expression still soft. “I will handle your brother. You needn’t concern yourself.”

“You Alphas,” Felix replied, his voice wavering while his eyes gathered moisture. “You don’t understand. Not at all. What Franklin has done should be criminal.”

He could feel a strange twisting in his guts. It wasn’t as though he could honestly tell Felix that he was wrong—what he’d done _was_ terrible. But was it terrible enough to warrant tears from an Omega who was not harmed? Perhaps it was their compassion—their empathy. Truly…Alphas could never hope to understand the sort of emotional complexity there was to be found within an Omega’s heart.

His father spoke again. “What did the letter say, Felix?”

“I told you what it said. I wrote as Franklin. I called him a coward and I should have called him a downright _ratbag_.”

“I have not acted _that_ poorly,” he mumbled where he sat, uncertain that such a statement was truth. He may very well have been a ratbag and a meater. He had certainly not been overflowing with courage when it came to speaking to the lovely and delicious little Mr. Brackley.

Ormsby hummed. “And I suppose you framed it well enough to either make your brother out to be entirely distasteful or, as is more to your strength, you’ve sought to romance him.”

Felix flashed Franklin a reproachful glance. “I didn’t sign it…but yes. To the second. I think he should be at least a little hopeful now that he has some chance…it is more than he had before and more than he will have again unless my dearest little brother will grow a bloody spine.”

“Watch your tongue, Felix.”

The Omega stood, his scent sharp and dangerous. “If you do not do something, Father, you will have to send me into the country. I cannot watch something so hideous happening before my very eyes.”

Ormsby looked toward his second son, Franklin’s heart beating harder at the scrutiny. “Frank? What do you have to say? This is a rather unusual tack for the pursuit of an Omega mate. Have you thought as to how you may proceed?”

“I’ve given it thought.”

“ _The devil he has!_ ”

“Felix.”

Finally, unable to handle more of this, the eldest of the line stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him in a petulant display that had Franklin’s stomach tying itself in knots. He had never seen his brother so furious with him. Not since they were boys, anyway.

“Father, I swear to you…I just need a little more time.”

“How much time could you need, Frank?” he asked, his tone imploring even as it was soft. “Felix is right. You’re causing him pain. His whole world is revolving around suitors and dancing and having fun finding a decent mate. You’ve taken away all of your competition but you haven’t given him any options—least of all you.” His hair was graying at the temples and there were crows feet at the corners of his eyes. When, Franklin thought, had his father gotten so much older? “Granted, I cannot say I know very much about romancing. Your mother and I…well…we’ve an understanding.”

“Yes…I know.” Knowing had come at a great cost to him. It seemed as though for a long time, he was the only one of his siblings to _not_ know that his mother and father were not deeply in love the way he had imagined they would be.

Ormsby sighed, leaning back in his chair and awkwardly rubbing his chin. “I’ve begun to think that your mother and I’s relationship has given you some tentativeness toward your own romantic future.”

_Do you think so? Do you think, perhaps, that finding out that my father and my mother were not as in love as I thought they were would do me harm? Do you think, perhaps, that discovering that my mother is, in fact, currently engaged in a long-standing affair with our estate manager would keep me from the thought that love is easily gained and held with the man one might marry? Do you think that my having developed a little boyish crush upon that very same estate manager before finding them together might cause me to have “some tentativeness” toward my own romantic pursuits?_

He didn’t speak but his eyes lowered to the inkwell again and he swallowed heavily. He didn’t even want to consider what he suspected of his father’s intimate relations. If he could help it, he would never think of it.

Ormsby moved his hand to his nose, massaging the bridge. “Listen…Frank. You must know what this does to the Omega. You must know that there are only a few options for him—he will either gain a proposal that has been made in secret so that you may not know of it, or he will fade away into nothing and marry some provincial Alpha in the country. You are my heir. You are from a line of nobility, your wealth is decent, and you will inherit my estate and holdings in time—you have plenty. If you want him, he is yours.” He leveled his tired eyes toward his son. “But if you make no move to take him, then you have done him great harm and cannot provide reparations. I know this is not how I raised my son. I suggest, now that Felix has broken the veil between you, that you write him another note…this time with your own words…and an apology.”

“Father, I can't—”

“Are you a coward, Franklin?”

He paused for a moment, words a breath away. “…yes.”

Ormsby let loose a long, beleaguered sigh before he slowly nodded. “Well. I suppose that’s that then. Perhaps you’ll take to your mother better in this regard…or perhaps your brother.”

“My brother?” His brows furrowed.

“Yes. Felix has certainly never shown any fear when it came to getting exactly what he wanted. Perhaps you will learn more from the Omegas of our family that you can from me. Now…if you’ll excuse me, Frank. I’ve got a few accounts to go over before I settle in for the night.”

He was summarily dismissed, standing outside the door with his eyes on the opposite wall’s paper, his mouth dry and his hands shaking. He’d admitted to his own father that he was a coward. Where was there to go from here? His feet felt cold and numb and the world seemed so very far away from him, the hallway endless and the darkness of the evening seeping into his very bones. He’d never been so lost. And he’d never been told to ask his _brother_ for help. As though he could take that suggestion as having merit in the slightest. His brother…the boy who’d given up on London society before he’d even experienced it. The boy who’d fallen in love with a dirt and grass stained _servant_.

_He certainly never did shy from taking exactly what he wanted._

Franklin trailed his hand down the wallpaper, teasing the molding that ran the length at just about hip-height for an Alpha. He very quietly turned down toward the east wing and lifted his hand as though he were going to give a gentle knock upon his mother’s parlor door. He waited, his ears pricked for sound at the very edge of the frame.

_“Do you think Nathan’s rather cross about it?”_ His mother’s voice was like the chime of a little bell, light and airy and practiced.

Her lover’s was rougher and lilted with his improper Irish pronunciations. _“Oi cahn’t imagine. Oi’ve ne'er seen the man angry. Especially no’ with Felix. Franklin’s got a bit o’ stubborn in ‘im but 'e’s a good boy at 'eart. 'E’ll do what’s right in th’ end.”_

He left, turning back around toward the west wing and seeking on the way to swallow whatever was left of his pride. It must have appeared, to an outsider, as though he were pacing back and forth; but he knew that pacing was a nervous energy that must escape by motion. He wasn’t nervous, he was vexed. Even his own rationalizations rang hollow in his heart but even his swallowed pride couldn’t let them go. Before he raised his hand to knock, he heard Felix call out to him to just come in already and so he entered, swinging the door open to find his brother’s room warm with a large fire in the hearth.

Felix was lounging, his one-year-old son laying atop him and clumsily feeding, seemingly more interested in his uncle’s appearance than in his meal.

Franklin made a soft sound as he cleared his throat. “Does a fit of pique make the milk sour?”

“And here I thought you’d come to apologize to me.”

“What is it that you think I have to apologize for?”

“How _dare_ you,” he hissed, bringing his hands to his pup, holding the boy and guiding him back to a nipple as he dribbled milk. “You act as though everything that happens in this world should accommodate you. You’ve tried to manipulate every single person around you as though they were nothing to you and you want me to apologize to you for trying to _help_ you get what you wanted. Because you’re too _stupid_ to figure out what to do for yourself. You’re like a child who is tired and thus screams in discomfort but has not the brain to know that the cure is sleep.”

He thought he might have heard this before. He thought, every time, that Felix was probably right. Without speaking, he moved to a small end table and moved everything that was on top of it over to another surface, carrying the little thing over to where Felix sat while the Omega eyed his actions curiously. When he had this in position, he moved to the writing desk in the corner and took a parchment and a pen and inkwell and set it upon the tiny table at Felix’s side.

“What are you doing?”

“Help me. If you’re so damned invested in whatever it is I’m doing. Then help me.”

“Why should I?”

“Because you’ve started this. It is not my hand within the first note. It is yours. If you truly wish me to somehow win his heart, then help me.”

“For God’s sake, Franklin. I’m beginning to regret ever having done so. I probably should have simply gone to see him and told him what you’re about. Then he’d know for certain that he deserves…” he trailed off, staring at the blank parchment with his brow furrowed deeply.

“He deserves better than me. I know. I…” He spoke past the pain in his throat and the tears that gathered in his eyes. “I _know_ what a goddamned coward I am. But Felix, I can’t. I know not why he terrifies me like this. I have never felt such a fear in my life. I cannot explain it. Be it the consequences of speaking to him—losing him somehow, gaining something I didn’t wish to have…I don’t know! I fear something so beyond my ken and that is whatever he is to me…”

“You fear a broken heart, you stupid Alpha,” Felix told him plainly, snatching the pen from the parchment. “Get me a blotter.”

“Thank you, Felix.”

“I believe you mean 'I’m sorry, Felix.'”

He stood for a moment, watching the tip of the pen as he blotted it and then hovered it over the parchment, waiting. Dropping to his knees before his brother, he found the Omega’s gray eyes. “I’m sorry, Felix.”

Knowing that it was, perhaps, all he was going to get, Felix began another little note, ignoring Franklin’s gaze as he smoothly scrawled over the parchment words that Franklin could never have conjured himself. “Now, Frank…this is not sustainable. You must talk with him. I don’t care how you do it, if you want it to be some great reveal or some quiet affair—you must speak with him soon. You do not have to reveal that you have sought to keep his other suitors away from him—you merely have to make your wishes known to him. That you want him.”

His throat felt dry. “Y-you cannot simply write that?”

“Alpha, I swear to god I will beat you within an inch of your life if you suggest to me that you wish _me_ to court your Omega for you through anonymous notes. By that standard, I should forget about you entirely and allow him to come into my bed…with Murtagh.”

Even the sound of the Alpha’s name was enough to put a bad taste in Franklin’s mouth and the thought of his involvement with Mr. Brackley was more than enough to pull him to his feet with indignant fury. “It is enough that he’s sullied _you_.”

“Then perhaps you should lay your own damn claim to your Omega and _speak to him._ ” With that, he picked up the little note he had finished and tossed it at him, allowing it to flutter to the floor. “Put your scent on it. Maybe even your name if you’ve got any courage left in you at all. And get out of here.”

Still tingling with ire, he leaned over and picked up the parchment from the floor and held it gingerly, hoping that the ink did not smudge. “Th-Thank you…Felix…”

“You’re welcome…just…” he sighed, staring into the fire behind the grate while he petted his pup’s head, threading his fingers into delicate black hair. His voice was softer, gentler, much more like the Omega he was. “Just do something, Frank. You’re going to kill him if you don’t.”


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn’t particularly cold but it was chilly as he was wandering about the garden in his coat and hat. He would rather have been wandering farther but Thomas had been terribly cryptic about the morning’s plans, suggesting he keep himself to the house grounds and occupy his time alone. He had his hands in his pockets while he watched the low, gray clouds loose some fat white snowflakes. It wasn’t nearly chilly enough for them to stick around so almost as soon as they hit the stone path, they disappeared, once more becoming invisible moisture and providing a dampness to the air. He didn’t feel much like going back to bed, which was strange to him in these colder months, and so he was left with nothing much to do but walk around, read, and make the attempt to figure out how to embroider again—such a thing was beyond his ken, he decided.

A sad-looking plant was withering next to the stone bench he was contemplating sitting upon and he wondered if they might wither together. He knew such thoughts were rather ridiculous. It was only his first season. Perhaps next year everyone would have forgotten about how distasteful he was or how boring he was. Perhaps there would be someone who would find him interesting or at least palatable.

The letter he’d received was hidden still under his pillow and had lost much of its scent from his handling. His emotions over the thing had been such a wild swing between elation and depression, he wasn’t altogether certain what he was supposed to feel now other than a deep and unending indifference about the matter.

In the end, he did not sit upon the bench as he decided that he did not wish for the cold to seep through his clothes and chill his bones. Instead, he wandered back to the house and entered the back door. It was warm in the house but he found it still to be too chilly. It was only that his socks were made of finely knit wool that he was able to go about at all without his shoes. He did so now, wrapping himself up in his housecoat that one of the footmen brought him, and wandering through the cold hallways toward his parlor which would likely have a fire already blazing as their servants were quite used to Redge’s habits and idiosyncrasies by now. They would know where he would spend most of his time and they would aide him however they could—they liked him, he thought, though he couldn’t imagine why.

“Redge?” came the voice of his father. He turned about, finding the man peering from the door of his study. “Could you come here for a moment?”

An odd note of apprehension strummed in his mind and for a second, his body didn’t wish to move, sticking on its own to the spot in which he stood. Still, he must go, he reminded his stubborn muscles, and he shuffled wordlessly toward the study door while his father retreated behind the desk.

“I met a young man this morning who’d like to make your acquaintance.”

His stomach began to tighten. He wasn’t sure if he was about to throw up or not.

“He’s a very nice man, very polite…Thomas claimed you’d agreed to meet him.”

He swallowed thickly and nodded.

“I thought I might catch you since I’m fairly certain your pitiful fool of a cousin has installed him your parlor rather than the receiving room as there was no fire already built in there and it’s rather cold this morning. Your room was most logical for a guest to wait.”

Redge could barely speak. “I was not summoned…”

“We didn’t wish to disturb you. You were quite lost in thought. Anyhow, if this is unacceptable to you, you are free to wait here while I rid the house of him…have you…changed your mind?”

He hadn’t changed his mind. He still wished to meet this man. He still wished to know if anyone in London this year thought of him like his mystery Alpha thought of him. He wished to know if this man _was_ his mystery Alpha. “W-what…what does he smell like?” he asked, his heart thudding hard in his chest.

His father’s brows lifted a bit. “What does he smell like? Graces, boy, I don’t know. Whatever any Beta might smell like is a mystery to me.”

“A _Beta?_ ” he blinked in surprise.

“Now Redge,” he began softly, “Betas are fine gentlemen. Listen to me: you’ve not got many prospects this year anymore. If you’re looking to be married within this season, you’d best consider him. I’ll not force you, you know that. You could remain a spinster the rest of your days as far as I’m concerned, but I know you crave affection.”

He stared hard at the man. “Y-you…do?”

“Of course I do. Every Omega craves affection. You’re a touchy bunch…well…come to think of it, _you’re_ not exactly the most touchy of Omegas…but _normally,_ you as a bunch are quite enamored of touch. I can’t recall you ever having been a very affectionate boy but then again, I did not quite have the time to instill it into you, nor to foster the instinct with you…should your mother have still been around, I suppose that would have been her occupation.”

He was staring into the fireplace, watching the flicker of fire behind the ornate gilded grate that was in front of it. At the thought of anyone touching him, he coiled in on himself, sitting perfectly still with his muscles clenched.

“Talk to this gentleman, Redge. Meet him and consider what you will do. He is a good option that I can see, and running a household would give you much to think about. Perhaps you would cease your daydreaming and move on to living life the way it is meant to be lived for a boy like you.”

_A boy like me._

_A pervert_ , he thought darkly. His father was begging him to marry for his own damned good. If he walked into that parlor and the man was in any fashion compatible with him—could please him the way he wanted to be pleased—he was expected to marry. He wasn’t expected to reject a man. He would have his own house and his own wealth and need not worry about much save for the man’s capability to not gamble the dowry away or, dare he think of it, _hit him._ He shivered, pushing the thought away sharply as though even the mere whisper of it could harm him.

“What do you think, Redge?”

He nodded slightly. “I will meet him.”

“Good. If you think he is suitable, you may allow yourself to be courted.”

“Thank you, father.”

The Alpha nodded resolutely as though this conversation was more a business matter than a personal one. “Alright, off with you then. Make certain to smile at him or he might think you cold.”

“Very well.” He got up, feeling like his legs were about to crumble out from beneath him. After all, this was likely a man who expected him to say yes. This was likely a man who was very nearly promised by Thomas that he would have an Omega bride at the end of the season.

_This was not his Alpha._

He couldn’t feel his fingers when he turned the knob for his parlor, the warm air of the room rushing out when he swung open the door, the intensity of it oppressive. The scent of Beta was prevalent, a blend of old books, wet ink, and beneath it a sweetness as though the undertones were of cardamom. It was nothing like the spring dew and evergreen of his Alpha but was calming and comforting all the same.

The gentleman stood from the settee, putting down his teacup and saucer on the tray to turn in order to greet him. He gave him a delicate bow mostly with his head and smiled. Thomas was still sitting like the miscreant he was, drinking brandy and refusing Redge’s eye contact as though he thought the notion of regarding him with respect was silly.

“Mr. Brackley,” the gentleman greeted. His tone was warm and deep and put goosebumps over Redge’s arms, the roiling in his belly at full intensity now. “Your cousin has spoken highly of you. Will you join me for tea?”

He did not answer but shuffled still in his socks and his housecoat to a chair across from the man, sitting while he was poured a cup and wondering what kind of a strange morning he was having where the visitor of his house was pouring him his tea. He added a little milk and sugar to it and sat quietly, unsure of what he might say.

“I have caught you unaware, I’m sure,” he provided, “I’m Hardvan. Arvick Hardvan.” He was handsome enough. His hair was a dark brown and only slightly too long to be fashionable. The sculpt of his face was pleasing and there was a mischievous air about him though perhaps that was derived from the cunningness of his hazel eyes and the youthful appearance of freckles over his high cheekbones. He could only have been in his mid-twenties and was as eligible as anyone, Redge supposed. “Though you may not consider it, I think it a stroke of luck that I’ve ended up in your parlor. I’d seen you at the soirees here in town this season but alas, what is a man to do when you are patrolled so closely by the foxes that raid the hen house?”

Redge sipped at his tea, aware that the man wasn’t growing at all uncomfortable by his silence, completely confident despite the lack of validation.

_Interesting._

Hardvan poured himself another cup. “Your cousin tells me that you’re a very gentle Omega. That you spend much time alone with your thoughts. Perhaps you fancy yourself a creative? I’ve been known for my decent prose. Perhaps you might share with me your fancies and I shall write them down into a novel for you…should you like that?”

Redge’s nose twitched. _A lurid novel of my rampant thoughts? A Beta should be aghast at the things I fantasize about._ He cleared his throat, leaning forward a bit. “I do not think that society is entirely ready for the things of which an Omega dreams.”

“Oh?” he said softly, “And what _are_ those, if I may ask?”

“If I could not share them with the public, I could not share them with you, Mr. Hardvan.”

His smile was warm and light and a little bit indulgent. “Perhaps I could convince you one day that those thoughts could most certainly be shared with me. _Embraced,_ even.”

He was again driven to a gulp past an odd lump in his throat. _Embraced._ The Beta had a tall, acceptable form and for a moment, all Redge could do was hold the fancy that he could be _embraced_ in both sorts of ways—that of mind and body. He wondered what the man looked like nude and leaned his elbow on the arm of the chair he sat in, contemplating him without even pretending to hide his appraising stare.

Hardvan seemed to preen within it. “I must be blunt with you, Mr. Brackley, you are a very handsome Omega. I would give just about anything to hear what was going on in that mind of yours.”

What was going on in his mind was certainly not something he could tell a stranger he’d only just met. He was thinking about how the man’s clever eyes might look upon him should he be naked. The appreciation that was in them now flashing with a sweet arousal that would tang in his light Beta scent. He was thinking about how warm the man’s hands would be if he touched him. How giving and soft his lips would be if he kissed him. He imagined clandestine meetings in a chilly garden, the frantic shedding of a flawless cravat so that he might press his nose against Redge’s throat and draw in his sweetness. He thought about how it might feel to have this handsome Beta kissing the center of his chest, nibbling until he could kiss at the bud of his nipple.

Thomas grunted where he sat, draining his glass. “Well. If Redge is going to act like a little dollymop, I’m going to take a moment to have a smoke.”

He shot a glare to his cousin. “Thomas, do not leave me.”

“I’ll leave the door open to air out your stink, you gross little fop.” He addressed Hardvan as though the man were an afterthought. “Don’t damage him. I’ve got enough to worry about from my uncle, I don’t need anything else.”

When Thomas was gone, Redge regarded the man warily, suddenly left to think about all the ways he might be held down right now. Would he fight? Or would this simply manage to become one of his many multifaceted fantasies? It could not play out just like the ones in his head—for one, he wasn’t in heat. A sinister fear began to creep into the back of his mind.

Hardvan’s mouth was tight on one side. “An absolute bounder, your cousin. I daresay, he’s left us entirely alone.”

Redge cleared his throat. “My scent is not an invitation to approach me. I warn you, Beta, I will take issue if you consider it a message.”

“I’ve no intention of getting up from my seat, Mr. Brackley. I consider myself a gentleman. I will not do anything that would serve to alienate you. To be frank, I had hoped that you might accept a courting gift from me.”

“And what kind of courting gift does a Beta give to an Omega?”

“Your cousin said you were fond of riding. I thought I might give you a horse. In fact, I brought her with me just in the off chance you might agree. She’s very sweet if you’d like to meet her.”

He frowned at his socked feet, his brows pinched. “I…I must admit that’s not what I was expecting.”

“Should you wish for something different, you only need say the word, Mr. Brackley. I’ve no issues with indulging you in anything you may desire.”

“Are you rather certain of that?”

He chuckled a bit, the sound peaking Redge’s nipples beneath his layers of clothes. “I am _very_ certain of that. There is nothing I would not do to capture your attention, Omega. You are of an exceptional breed…your cousin excluded of course.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. “Ah…he hasn’t put you off? His behavior is perhaps what has ostracized me…”

“His behavior means nothing to me. Only yours. What I see before me is an incredible poise and what I smell is a boy who…” he paused when Redge pinned him with a stare, “…who has a profound passion within. A passion I can only hope to share.”

“Then keep your horse and give me something else.” He suddenly felt wild and deeply reckless.

“Anything.”

He flicked his glance toward the door which lay ajar and then back to him. “A kiss. Just one. My first, you see. Give me the gift of knowing.”

He was quiet for a few moments, regarding Redge curiously. “A very… _interesting_ request. One I, myself, was certainly not expecting.” He rose slowly, almost as though he did not wish to spook him. “You are absolutely certain that this is what you wish? A first kiss is quite intimate for a courting gift.”

“If I were to allow uncertainty to stop me every time I felt it, I should die having never done anything at all.”

The Beta came to him, careful not to loom over him as he sank to his knees on the carpet, inching forward until he was close enough. He gently took the teacup and saucer from Redge’s hands and placed them aside, his hands warm— _so warm—_ when he grasped at the Omega’s, holding them to his chest. His voice was nearly a whisper. “Your fingers are cold…”

Redge couldn’t speak anymore. He was only inches from this man’s lips. This man he had only just barely met. This veritable _stranger_. God, his fantasies could really be real. It was better than a dream for it was real and vibrant and her right now. Warmth, apprehension, a tingling awareness that spread through every inch of his body that screamed to him that another was close and was even _touching him._ His hands sparkled with energy where they connected with Hardvan’s and he could feel the man’s breath on his lips as he leaned forward.

“ _My god, your passion is dulcet…a sweet fresh wine…I could render myself drunk upon you…_ ”

Redge pressed forward then, preventing the man from speaking further by taking his lips. The Beta groaned softly through his nose and Redge wholeheartedly agreed. He allowed Hardvan to manipulate him, turning his head with just a simple brush of his jaw by a finger that left fire burning in its wake. Kissing, as he discovered quickly, was an art. His own inexperience served only to excite the Beta more and though it was only but a few seconds long, Hardvan had, by the end, given Redge a large amount of sensation that would prove useful in the future—whether for exploration or fantasy…

The subtle sound of their lips parting was enough to render him utterly void of thought and at once, he wished for another. He was a selfish Omega, and very greedy. How could he be blamed for wanting more after having been given just a taste? _Tea with milk. A library of tomes. The promise of intimate passion. Beta boldness tempered by an even-keeled awareness._

“ _Yes…_ ” Redge whispered only inches still from the man’s lips. “ _Yes…you may court me._ ”

He was smiling, nervousness hinting in his scent. “God…I daresay you have me hooked. If you were to reject me after such a magical touch, I might simply weep. Thank you…”

Redge nearly leaned forward again but managed somehow to hold himself back. “I…I would take another but to do so would out me as a terrible coquette…please, Mr. Hardvan, I am tempted by you. You must go so that I cannot find myself unfit to marry.”

“O-Of course…anything…I will call upon you. Tomorrow? For a ride in the park?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Of course, darling.”

 _Darling_. He wanted that. He wanted that whispered into his every morning while his lover came to press against his back and touched him about his waist and his stomach and his chest. He wanted it more than he wanted anything else save one thing—another kiss.

“I will see you tomorrow,” Hardvan sighed, his voice melancholy with the sadness of parting too soon. But, like a gentleman, he stood, letting go of Redge’s hands and giving him a polite little bow before he left, the room buzzing with the scent of mutual arousal and the silence cut only by Redge’s harsh breathing.

He couldn’t know how long it was before he was startled by Utley’s voice from the doorway.

“Young master? You’ve a letter.”

_A letter?_

“Oh…Utley, gods…I um…”

“I’ll set it here by the door, sir.”

“Of course. Thank you.” He stood, his legs again feeling as though they might crumble but now for a very different reason. When Utley had gone, he came to the small silver plate the letter had been delivered upon and, horrified, found it to be the very same scrawl that had marked that of his Alpha.

_Have I reason to feel this guilt?_

Redge lifted the envelope and raised it to his nose, pulling in the evergreen notes and undertones of spring and dew and _new beginnings._

_Have I reason to think I’ve betrayed a man who has not met me? Who has not even sent me flowers? Who has not dared what this Beta has dared?_

He felt a tightness in his chest and tears came to his eyes when he set the letter down again, daring not to touch it anymore lest he be tempted to open it. If he did, if he allowed that old longing to come over him, he would be teased again by the possibility of an Alpha. Of that haunting instinctual need. No. If he did not indulge in those fantasies then it would be possible for him to indulge in a new one—one that was no less sordid and passionate only because it was with a man of a more mild temperament. He could be more than happy with a Beta who could worship him in the flesh, who could touch him and ask him his fantasies. Who could… _embrace_ them.

With one last, long look at the careless tilting letters of his name over the parchment, he left the room, allowing the chill of the rest of the house to ease away the tingles leftover from his first kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear.


	6. Chapter 6

Franklin had his gloved hands in his pockets, tight in fists as he looked about the park, nodding to ladies as they passed by in their curricles. He had to take them out every so often to tip his hat but mostly, he kept them in his pockets so that he might not have to find anything to do with them. He was pacing in short little bursts at the base of one of the taller English Oak trees near to the path and he couldn’t help but sometimes pull out his pocket watch and stare at it.

It was chilly and he fancied that he was just about going to freeze off the tips of his ears. He thought that perhaps he hadn’t read Felix’s note right but then reminded himself that he was much too early to make that kind of judgment yet. Doubting his own ability to read and tell time was just the sort of thing that he would do. The rest of his siblings were much too sure of themselves for that kind of utter nonsense. Felix was the worst of them, making every decision on a whim it seemed, though he never was at all averse to the consequences of those actions so he must have been rather sure when the moment of decision came. Adelaide, the first of his younger sisters, was almost as bad as Felix was. She was in many ways just as much a terror but was softer about her method, seeking the gentler, less obtrusive nastiness Felix was best known for.

He checked his watch again. Ten minutes. Only ten minutes.

He could feel his palms starting to sweat and there was a lump forming in this throat. What was he going to say? What was he going to do? Was the boy even going to show up at all? What if he had decided to ignore him? What if everything he’d done, everything that Felix had done, had made him somehow distasteful?

Franklin’s heart was beating hard in his chest and he wanted to bolt right then but his pride wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t send a letter like he had, inviting an Omega to meet with him alongside a chaperone for a walk in the park—very whimsical and oddly romantic, he had to admit—and then leave him there to walk with no one at all. That was extremely ungentlemanly.

 _I’ve been entirely ungentlemanly this whole time,_ he admitted to himself, nearly stomping his foot into the ground with his frustrations toward his own past inaction. He’d been completely useless for an Alpha and he completely knew it. But what could he do about it now?

“Frank?”

“Augh!” he shouted, jumping about a foot up in the air in his surprise before he whirled about to find Ildry standing behind him with his own hands in his pockets. “For god’s sake, man, you’re going to give me a bloody heart attack!”

Ildry chuckled a bit. “You did seem very much like you were gathering wool there. Must be a hell of a lot of wool for that vexed look on your face. I was just out with my father when our curricle hit a hole in the path and our wheel broke. Now I guess I’m out for a stroll. Care to come along?”

“No I…” he blinked, shaking his head as though he was ridding his mind of cobwebs. “I’m supposed to meet someone. Or…I think I am.”

“You think you are? You sound much like a very bewildered sap. Have you gotten caught in some gambling scheme? You’re rather pale. Are you feeling well?”

“Ildry,” he tried, “I sent a letter to Brackley. I asked him to meet me. Now I fear I’m going to have some kind of apoplexy simply waiting here. What the devil is wrong with me?” His body had begun to shake and he couldn’t seem to meet his friend’s eyes. “Why can I not just _speak_ to him?”

The Baron blinked as though in shock and reached out to touch his arm. “You sent him a letter? When?”

“Just yesterday…gods, will you stay with me? Just until he arrives?”

“I don’t think he’s going to, Frank. I hate to tell you this but I’ve just seen Brackley. He was with that horrible cousin of his and a Beta. He was out riding on the other side of the park. He certainly didn’t look as though he were searching for someone and in fact, he seemed quite taken with the Beta.”

“What?” Franklin felt his breath leave and refuse to come in again, leaving him starving for oxygen.

“Now don’t do anything rash, Alpha,” Ildry told him, putting out his hands and gently touching Franklin’s shoulders to comfort him. “Are you certain he got your note?”

“Y-yes…I…”

“There is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this and I’m certain you can get to the bottom of it. If I thought it would help, I would tell you who the Beta was but I’m afraid you’re going to do something stupid out of some kind of bravado and nobody really needs that. After all, this is a logical step for him to take, isn’t it?”

“What?” he asked, his voice pitiful even to his own ears.

Ildry shrugged one shoulder. “You left him little choice. Who else could come near him but the Betas of questionable quality?”

“ _Questionable quality?_ ” His vision seemed to be blurring a bit as he blustered, finally taking in huge breathes through his nose as though they might help.

“Perhaps some tea, Frank. Or perhaps a stiff drink. White’s?”

“I don’t need a drink.”

“You might after I tell you where I know the devil from.” He shook Franklin slightly, drawing his gaze. “I think it’s time to go somewhere other than the park. Your scent is starting to waft and if I know anything about little old Omegas on their daily rides, they’ll be talking all about how you’ve turned into a damned brute overnight. Let’s not give the papers anything to gossip about, hmm?”

“I’ve been stood up,” he breathed. “For a _Beta._ ”

“Don’t say it too loudly or else someone of import might hear.” Ildry threw an arm around his shoulders and began to walk with him, practically dragging him across the grass.

“I want to know who he is.”

“I want to have at least one drink before you go and challenge a man to a duel and get yourself arrested and hanged for murder. Though you were never as good a shot as your brother…”

He shrugged off Ildry’s arm. “Goddamn. Goddamn all of this. Alright. White’s then. I need a drink. I need a drink or…seven. But you will tell me his name.”

The man walked beside him, his own hands now shoved in his pockets as he hurried to keep pace with Franklin’s stride. “Of course I will. After I’m sure you won’t do anything about it aside from something level-headed and rational. I will not entertain the notion of your throwing your life away from some boy who doesn’t even know your name. Unless…unless he does know your name…but if he did, he wouldn’t have stood you up for…”

“For?”

“Nevermind that now. A drink, Frank. Remember a drink first. Then talk.”

He had a drink. He guzzled it like he was guzzling water and then demanded another one on the spot, tucked away inside the club which smelled like Alpha, booze, and the thick haze of tobacco smoke that stung at the nose. He took the second one slower, hidden in a booth set in a far corner of the club with Ildry across from him, perusing the latest pilfered “menu” from one of the many bordellos the gentlemen here frequented.

“Look, Frank, you can get your toes sucked for so little.”

“Don’t tell me,” he grunted, “you’ve become some sort of Corinthian?”

“Go to brothels? Do I appear so desperate?” the Alpha asked, propping himself up and puffing out his chest. He chuckled after a moment. “Oh Frank, you’re so uptight. Perhaps if you _went_ to a nice, fancy _maison_ , you wouldn’t be so entirely inappropriate in courting your Omega.”

He put his eyes in his hand, leaning his elbow on the table’s surface. “Oh my God. I’ve mucked it up well and good, haven’t I? I know I have. I knew I was doing it. You even told me I was doing it and you’ve not the audacity to call me out on it. You’re allowed, you know. I wouldn’t cosh you.”

“I’m not about to tell you what you already know.”

“Then tell me what I don’t know. Who is the devil?”

“His name is Hardvan. He’s a…well, he’s a…”

Franklin still couldn’t pull his hand away from his eyes. “Oh my god don’t tell me he’s some kind of ruffian.”

Ildry sought to keep his tone fair, most likely, as he hemmed and hawed. “ _Ruffian_ would likely be the wrong word. I would say…ehm…he _caters_ to ruffians. He owns one of the gambling hells down in the East End and I’m fairly sure he’s got some of those slums in his pocket as well. It’s a lucrative business if you haven’t a heart.”

“A _gambling hell?!_ ”

“Don’t shout, Frank, you’re going to make everyone in here excited. They’ve never known you to be the type to place a bet anywhere but the track.” Ildry patted his shoulder. “Perhaps you simply go to speak with Brackley.”

“Perhaps I go squeeze this Beta until his bloody head pops off his shoulders,” he replied savagely, taking another long gulp of his gin. His only hope was to pickle himself so that by the time he could get up to go, he wouldn’t be able to stand for his legs would be too wobbly. It was likely he wouldn’t be able to get to the man anyway. But perhaps if he was just drunk enough… He flagged down a server and got another drink, casting a dark stare over Ildry and then succumbing to his fickle thoughts. “Ildry?”

“Yes?”

“How much money do you have on you?”

He raised his brows. “I’m not going to a gambling hell with you. I mean, I will, if it is _not_ the place run by the man who may— _or may not_ —be attempting to woo your beloved.” He lifted his new, full glass. “You are on your own for that.”

“I thought we were friends.”

He sighed through his nose. “Why must you always bring that up? Listen, I’ve made a mistake here in meeting you at Eton, I’d like to remedy that now—who are you, again? Oh, pardon, I don’t know you at all, I must be at the wrong table.”

He caught the man’s sleeve as he made to get up, imploring him with just his eyes. He knew it must have seemed pitiful but he had nothing else.

“Oh…to hell with you, Frank. Fine. I’ll go. But only because I’d hate to see you shot.”

Frank wasn’t in the condition to suppose that he might have taken a hack instead of his own coach which happened to have his family’s crest upon it and so of a matter of course, he was eyed rather intently when he was let out. With three drinks in and it being only early evening, he brushed himself off, straightened his clothes, and walked in as though he were the king himself, vowing not to have another drop of liquor as not to absolutely lose the ability to think should he become somehow flustered.

He was flustered nearly immediately when all he could see about him were gaming tables and somewhat familiar faces. All the way out here, “happily” married lords in the East End with their shoulders held by women and Omegas who were _not_ their mates and, despite its appearance from the outside, the place was furnished well with a modern décor. He turned to Ildry, casting another look about the warm room well-lit by the lamps strewn about. “I’d had another idea about this place, you know.”

“Ah, thought it would be teeming with rats? Well it is, they’re just man-sized,” Ildry replied, grinning. “I’ll gather your necessary information. You grab me a drink. I’m far more suited to subterfuge than you are.”

He couldn’t argue with that. For being such a goddamned coward when it came to Omegas, Franklin was much too blunt when it came to Alphas. He wasn’t sure what he might do with a Beta. It hadn’t been something he’d expected. After all, normally the Beta behavior was like a soft mirror to the Alpha—but a man who was only at the very fringes of society would likely have missed the cues. A man who owned a gambling hell was not very likely to give a damn what a Baron thought of him. He’d been fleecing Barons and their sons likely for years. All a lord was to him was a man with deep pockets and a wealth of assets to burn at the tables.

_Never bet upon anything you aren’t sure to win._

His father’s words were always tickling at the back of his mind. Of course, _Hugh’s_ words in reply followed aptly. _If ye can’t bet yer life at least once and lose, y'aven’t lived a life worth bettin’ on._

There were windows open which let in some chilly air but the crowd inside was enough to warm it up around the fresh air flowing in. A myriad of emotions swept around him in every scent. The spice of arousal, the must of frustration, the dank coldness of desperation. He thought about the menu they’d left behind at the club and thought he’d much rather have been at a brothel—the air would have been far sweeter. Then again, he would likely have to kill any man who owned a brothel who might be after his Omega. The thought that Brackley might have ever been forced to open his legs was putting a deep blackness near his heart.

“Evenin’ sweetheart,” came a voice to his right and he turned to find a saucy-looking little Omega staring up at him. “You lost, darlin’?”

“Pardon,” he told her frankly, “I’ve never been to one of these before.”

She stared at him incredulously and gave him a rude once-over. “You a bettin’ man, Alpha? Or are you lookin’ for something on the side?” To verify her second meaning, she reached out to the front of his trousers and cupped him, giving him a gentle squeeze that stiffened his back and had him drawing up significantly in shock.

“I beg your pardon, miss, I-I think perhaps you’ve the wrong idea about me. I’m looking for—”

“Me,” came a voice behind him and he turned suddenly along with the Omega. The Beta was taking off his hat and holding it lightly in his fingers, his hair a little disheveled by the wind and his handsome features immediately the cause of fresh disdain. “You’re looking for me, Alpha.”

He drew up again though this time it was not from embarrassment but pride. “That I am, if you’re Hardvan.”

“I am. Let’s go to my office.”

He followed, reminding himself that he should not allow himself to become comfortable with how much smaller this man was in relation to himself. This Beta was a wily one. He could see it just in the cut of his jaw and the sharp shine in his eyes. “I suppose you know why I’m here,” he remarked as he came through the doorway into a small, quiet room filled with books and ledgers. There was a comfortable looking chair on the far side of the man’s desk and Franklin didn’t bother sitting in it until his host had divested himself of his hat and greatcoat and had sat in his own chair. Only then did he sit, stiff and unyielding.

“I know why you’re here.”

“Then you must know—”

“That you’ve lost?”

Franklin blinked.

The Beta wasn’t smiling. In fact, he appeared deathly serious. “Alpha, I won’t pretend to be anything I’m not. I’m a man of considerable wealth and I’m in want for a mate. However that mate comes to me, I don’t care.”

Franklin’s brows furrowed. “And how has Mr. Brackley come to you? This suggests that it was not by casual means.”

“He is a repayment. His cousin owes me a vast sum.”

“And if I were to pay you that very amount?”

“I’ve already cheapened him by accepting him as currency, would you cheapen him further by validating my action?” He chuckled. “To be honest, Alpha, I don’t give a damn about the money anymore. Rather…I’m more intrigued by him now, having met him. Do you know how passionate he is, Alpha? It’s stunning the way he can work himself up.”

Franklin felt a hot wind of hate work itself out through an unsteady breath. “Don’t speak of him like that.”

“Why not? One might say I know him twice as well as you do. You’ve not even met him. Oh yes, I know all about you. Fortunately his father doesn’t or else you might be the one he would prefer—a title, decent money though probably not what I have, and a good bloodline. But you’ve already lost, Alpha. You had your chance—hundreds of them, likely, and you chose to be a coward. What was it that you were waiting for, Alpha? What moment would have made it all perfect?”

His eyes dropped from Hardvan’s face and settled on the desktop instead, unfocused. He didn’t have an answer for that. He _had_ lost, hadn’t he? Ildry had told him he would lose and some other man would get tired of his games. Of course Ildry was right. Ildry was always right.

“Are you going to throttle me?” he asked, snapping Franklin back into reality suddenly, drawing his eyes again. “I don’t think it’s all that rare for an Alpha in your position to react violently…though you don’t smell the type.”

“I’m not going to throttle you,” he replied softly. “Though I had thought about it on the way here.”

“I’m glad you understand that fair is fair. You, being who you are, could have probably just walked right up to his door and knocked upon it. I had to weasel my way in. Perhaps working for something really makes one appreciate it all the more. You wouldn’t understand any of that, would you?” Hardvan’s tone implied a smile but there was none.

He stood up, feeling at least a little better when the Beta seemed to flinch in his seat, his eyes wide and his body tense as if hyper-aware of how much damage an Alpha might do to him. He made to leave, his mind buzzing with everything the man had said but before he opened the door, he turned about, his expression grim. “Don’t get comfortable, Beta. You may very well win…but I won’t make it easy.”

Hardvan nodded slightly. “As expected.”

Ildry was waiting for him in the foyer with his coat and his hat and walked out with him, his scent mingled with the emotions of dozens of strangers. It was discomfiting. “Well?” he asked as they emerged into the cool evening air, the moon above them casting the world in a silver light. “What did the man say? I trust he’s still alive in there.”

“He’s still alive,” Franklin told his friend, pulling himself into the coach that was waiting for them. “The bastard’s got that seedy cousin wrapped around his fingers. Slithered his way into Brackley’s parlor by calling back a debt owed to him.”

“Slippery.”

“He’s a snake alright but…”

“But?”

Franklin shook his head. “I don’t know. I suppose perhaps I should be cutting my losses here. What if he is a good mate? What if…what if he’s a better mate than I am? He’s a devil no doubt but that’s got nothing to do with how he might treat his husband.”

“Doesn’t it?”

He shrugged, unwilling to think that someone might seek to harm such a sweet, handsome boy. “I’m going to do something regardless. I can’t sit aside.”

“What are you going to do? Go to his home?”

“Tomorrow.”

Ildry nodded approvingly. “It’s about time. You’ll want to send a missive before you arrive, of course. It would be rude just to show up.”

“Of course…” And damnation! He would have to get Felix to write it and he would be that very same man to tell him he was an idiot _again_. Well bullocks, he thought crossly, he would have to grin and bear it. It was for Mr. Brackley, after all. And there was no better reason to be berated than that. He couldn’t simply roll over and die in his quest for this. It was the eleventh hour and it had tumbled into disaster so quickly—he had to do something. He had to do anything.

He had to tell Brackley, with his own voice, that he was in love with him. Perhaps it wouldn’t change anything at all…but then again…perhaps it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter is when the Bad Thing happens. 3:


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **CONTENT WARNING: Fire. This is where bad things happen.**

There was a fine dusting of snow coming down when he walked outside under the bright light of the moon. It had begun snowing late into the evening, blowing in from clouds off to the west and Redge couldn’t help himself. He liked the way the moonlight glinted in each and every snowflake, glittering with a strange and eerie sort of magic. He caught a few on his tongue and smiled at the way they pricked over the flesh of his cheeks, catching on his eyelashes. He hugged himself to ward off the cold and when he was finished marveling at the swirling, spinning glitter of snow around him, he retreated into his parlor and pulled a knit blanket around his shoulders and balled up near to the fireplace, dozing a bit before he thought it might be time to find his way to his bedroom.

Just as he thought he might have gained the strength to get up and move, Utley was in the doorway, knocking gently upon the door frame with a letter in his hand. “A note for you, Mr. Brackley? Shall I put it here with the other one?”

“Hmm…” he sighed, gazing into the coals at the bottom of the fire. “Does it smell like Alpha, Utley?”

“It does indeed, sir.”

“Perhaps I should throw it in the fire.”

“A gentleman has earned your ire, young sir?”

He wasn’t quite sure if that was near to the truth or not. Was he annoyed by the man? Or was it merely just a sort of apathy? He couldn’t tell which was the case—he wanted to be angry. He wanted the Alpha to know that he was worth seeing. He was worth knowing. He was worth _touching_. No letter could touch him. No note could hold him in the dark of the night and tell him with hot breath in his ear that everything was going to be alright and that every fantasy he’d ever dreamed could be real. He deserved nothing less, of course.

Redge stared at the parchment in Utley’s gloved fingers and wordlessly reached out for it. The man crossed the room and handed it to him gracefully. “Thank you, Utley.”

“You’re welcome, young sir. Should you need anything more, please ring the bell.”

“Of course.” He wouldn’t ring the bell. He wouldn’t bother anyone else this late at night when he was going to do something he ought not do. He waited until Utley’s soft footsteps were out of earshot and then delicately pressed the parchment to his nose, pulling in the undertones of a wooded glen bathed in sunshine. He snaked his hand beneath his blanket and unfastened his trousers, slipping his fingers beneath until he was cupping his hardening warmth. He couldn’t think about it too deeply or he would be forced to consider the hypocrisy he was exhibiting in the act—he had, previously, told himself that he would not be tempted by the Alpha who sent him notes. But it was late in the evening and he was tired and his fantasies were all that were with him. There was no warm, sensible, and unwavering Beta here to hold him and kiss him and show him how to be dangerous. And there _certainly_ was no Alpha here to do the job himself.

Only his scent…a shy scent. Shy and frightened. He pressed it to his nose a little harder, trying to sense the tones that would betray anxiousness. He could smell them. He could find them there, hidden beneath the murky evergreens and the glimmering of morning moisture over wide fields of tall meadow grasses. This Alpha was a man beset by a horrible shyness. An embarrassment. A worry.

Still, his body reacted to the scent’s overtones, the blend of masculine power and a pliable humility. Redge held himself in his fist, stroking with a great finesse he’d developed over the many years he had grappled with his own imagination. He toyed with himself for several minutes, closing his eyes as he lay back against the settee, his neck bared to no one and his hand working beneath his blanket. He brought himself close a few times, sighing and even on the brink of moaning as sweat began to form at his hairline and he felt a lacy flush spread over his face and chest.

When he came, he caught it best he could in his palm and wiped it off on a spare corner of his blanket, laying boneless on the settee with the parchment still against his nose. He wanted to be held after he came. He wanted strong arms and a loving embrace. He wanted more of this fucking _scent._

Redge held the letter to his chest, dozing at first and then fully succumbing to a deep slumber with it clutched still in his hand. It was never his intention to spend the night outside of his bed but it happened all the same and when he awoke it was to the morning sun seeping in through the sheer lace curtains of the parlor and Utley building up the fire again.

“Good morning, young sir,” Utley greeted him without looking at him, somehow knowing by sense alone that he was awake. “I see you never made it to your room last night. In just one way, you are much like your father…though I highly doubt you’d handy anything to drink.”

He smiled, still warm under the thick wool of his blanket though he could feel it was cold in the room. “You better not let him hear you say such things. He might take offense.”

The Beta flashed a conspiratorial grin toward him. “Oh but I’ve a commiserating ear with me, do I not? I see you did not open either of your gentleman’s letters.” He eyed the one that was peeking out from beneath the wool near Redge’s chin.

“Hmmph,” was his grunted reply. “Utley…what do you think of the Beta?”

“He is a gentleman.”

Redge rolled his eyes. “Is that all you have to say about him? That he is a man who exists and probably does so on the same level with my father?”

“That is all I have to say about him,” he affirmed neatly as the fire sprang to life before him. “It is not my place to tell you my opinions of men who come to court you.”

“But I am asking.”

“And I have told you what I think as far as I believe I am permitted.”

He sighed a long and drawn-out sigh. “And this Alpha?”

“I cannot say. I’ve not met him.”

“Hmm…me neither.” Thoughtfully, he toyed with the seal over the parchment and said nothing more until Utley left him, the fire slowly warming the room. It wouldn’t be bearable to reveal himself to the air for several minutes—perhaps even an hour—and so he lay there, still smelling this Alpha scent and wondering if he might not touch himself again.

_Perhaps I should simply open it. Read his words. Hear his voice through his letter. Perhaps he is working up his courage. I did not look at the previous one and this one has come upon its heels—so close! Perhaps this is of some importance. Perhaps he will wish to meet with me. Perhaps he is some rogue libertine and he will wish to meet me in the back garden under the cover of night. We will wait for a cloudy night to cover the moon and he will take me behind the hedges, press me against the wall, and kiss me until I can hardly remember my own name._

He was grinning at himself and his ridiculous fantasies, stopping short of sliding his hand over himself again. In fact, he didn’t much care what the letter had in it—it was far greater of a fantasy than whatever reality could possibly be. The man was much too shy to do something so bold. The hidden notes in his scent had revealed as such.

_But what a fantasy…_

The seal pulled off easily and he unfolded the parchment, at first lazily reading the lines yet becoming more agitated with every word. When he was finished with his first reading, he scrambled his eyes to the top and read it again, his mouth forming every word silently. When he was finished with the second reading, he stood, the blanket falling to the floor and his trousers still unfastened. He got himself put together again and just in the nick of time as Utley’s soft knock sounded upon the door frame yet again.

“Young sir—”

“An Alpha?!” he squeaked, his eyes wide. “An Alpha to see me?!”

The familiar low, dulcet, and soothing voice of Arvick Hardvan came to him from behind Utley then, causing his heart to squeeze painfully in his chest. “Mmm, unfortunately not, I’m afraid. Only me.” 

Utley moved aside, giving Redge a curious glance before he retreated, leaving the door open.

“I…” Redge tried, leaning to look into the hall behind the Beta. “I um…”

“You were expecting someone else.” The Beta was smiling pleasantly but there was something strange about it. It wasn’t quite like it was before—completely confident even in the face of ambivalence. It was colder, less controlled. “I understand. I cannot be the only suitor you’ve encountered…ah…you’ve a note. No doubt from this Alpha you expected. Dear me, I wouldn’t want to be here whenever he arrives. I’ve been in such a sorry situation before and it rarely goes well for me.”

“Mr. Hardvan…”

“Do you think he might come soon? You see, there is a reason I’ve come to call so early. It is terribly early, isn’t it? Normal debutantes haven’t awoken quite yet, I’m afraid, and I thought I might be waiting around for a little while.” There was a hurried tone to his voice that was setting Redge on edge, tickling his ear with a hint of warning. “I suppose that note was to tell you—”

“About you,” he breathed. “You…you and my cousin.”

“Ah.” He was still smiling, the look of it understanding and relenting even.

“You…you think I have some kind of a monetary value, I suppose.” He shouldn’t say this. In fact, it shouldn’t have bothered him at all to discover. The note had revealed the nature of the Beta but in what way was this any kind of a surprise? He wasn’t _shocked._ But what he was, was disappointed. “I’m curious, Beta…how much? And should I not marry you…would you still hold it against him despite having a fighting chance?”

Hardvan studied him then, taking a few moments to soak in the scent of peevish Omega and examine the draw of his expression. “Your cousin owed me roughly five thousand pounds.”

“A great amount,” he supplied easily. “Would you forgive some of it for having gotten to kiss me?”

“I would forgive it all if only I had a true chance with you. Should you hold it against me that I’ve done such a thing, I think I still will. Not because I like your cousin, because I don’t. But because I like you. Very much. To have been close to you for only just days and to have kissed you once—it is worth it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Did the Alpha say he was coming?”

“He did.”

Hardvan sucked in a swift breath, his odd smile gone completely and a stone coldness left in its wake. “He told me he would make it hard for me. Alphas have a tendency to make things difficult for us Betas and I will not go so far as to admit to be deserving of such hardship. I have had enough hardship in my life, I don’t need any more. I am already a humble man.”

Redge sincerely doubted that. “I suppose you’re here because you knew he would tell me.”

“I didn’t think he would be so cowardly as to do so in a note though I shouldn’t have put it past him. I thought I goaded him enough that he would do everything in the open. But a tiger cannot change its stripes and this Alpha is gutless to his bones.”

_I fear great pain. I fear great love. I fear you._

“I thought him a coward as well,” Redge replied, looking at the note laying face-up on the settee where he had slept. He could still scent the evergreens and the barest hint of a spider’s web carrying morning dew and shining in the light. “But he fears great things. Big things. Things that are larger than himself. Great pain. Great love. Me.” His eyes found Hardvan again. “You fear small things. Five thousand pounds is nothing to you. You are worth so much more than any amount my cousin could owe you and it is that amount which has bought me. I am for purchase—an item. A bauble. And yet you come here fearing that you will lose me. As though you _had_ me and I, the marble in your pocket, slipped through a tear in the fabric and rolled away under the bureau. While the Alpha…he knows he has never once held me…because I am far too great to fit in his pocket.”

Hardvan’s brow was furrowed. “He stalks you like a lion stalks an elephant, keeping it from eating until it is too weak to fight him off. No matter how great you are, you are still his prey.”

“I am not yet too weak. I am not weak _at all_. _”_ Redge felt his voice waver as tears came to his eyes in his frustration. “ _I will never be weak._ ”

“Will you say it again when he breaks you?”

“I will break him first.”

He took a step forward and though it was not menacing, it jolted Redge’s consciousness to the state of them—alone. Utterly alone. Hardvan’s voice turned soft and pleading. “I will cherish you, Omega. You are not simply a bauble to me. You are certainly not my adversary. I do not fear you.”

“P-perhaps you sh-should,” he stammered, taking a few steps to the side toward the desk near the fireplace. There was a poker near the side of it and he was keen to use it if he had to.

_Ironic: all those fantasies where a man takes advantage of you and this is how it seems like it might play out in reality._

“Reconsider me, please. I’m begging you. The Alpha will no doubt do something drastic to steal you from me—”

“I cannot be stolen,” he argued, “I don’t belong to you!” The Beta was still advancing and so Redge hurried backwards, the last step hindered by a kink in the rug which sent him stumbling the rest of the way into the desk which nearly toppled. It was heavy enough that it managed only to skid a few inches but the lamp which sat upon it teetered and then crashed, splashing a fair amount of oil over the carpet and hearth which lit aflame within seconds. Redge hit the floor at the edge of the desk, flames suddenly in his vision.

He had supposed once when he was younger that in cases of extreme duress, he might have been graced with an abundance of time. As if the human mind might actually make time draw out just a little bit longer as the adrenaline hit so as to allow for reaction enough to save itself. That, much like many others of his fantasies, turned out quite different in reality.

Things now seemed to happen far too quickly and it was as though he could not move fast enough. As though he were frozen in time, trapped in a single space through sheer panic and shock. The flames moved so quickly and the smoke piled upon itself, billowing around him. His arms and legs felt weak, as though he had been sapped of all strength by his sudden fear and though he scrambled to get up, he stumbled and fell. Where was the Beta? Where was the door? His mind was buzzing so loudly with his panic that he had lost all awareness of space and time.

_How do I get out?! How do I escape?!_

He hadn’t even the time to scream. He scrambled until he couldn’t scramble anymore, coughing heavily as he did. He had thought the door to be only about twenty paces from where he fell but when he got there, he found only wall and the thick, heavy smoke tumbling over the ceiling and building downward until it was threatening to overtake him and the haziness that already mired him. His eyes were watering from the caustic air and his vision was blurred and trailing. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think straight. All that was around him was roiling blackness and the lick of spreading flame. He held his throat, grasping at his neckcloth.

Consciousness faded. Panic faded. A sweet and enduring calmness washed over him.

There was no thought but there was evergreen and a bright meadow with flickering butterflies…

_Wake up._

Sprigs of fresh spruce tips and clean, crisp water flowing in an open brook through smooth stones.

_Wake up._

A strong buck with large antlers reaching for the sky turning to peer over his domain. White clouds casting large shadows over green fields and wildflowers. The song of jaybirds and robins and the tap-tap-tap of a woodpecker.

_Wake up, I love you._

Air. Real air. Rushing and cold and terrible. And pain.

Oh god. _Pain._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿


	8. Chapter 8

What he’d done was not like him at all. His friends perhaps might say that it was entirely like him. That it was something a man like Franklin was born to do. That it was something the Alpha in him was made for. But Franklin knew what kind of a man he was and he was not the kind of man who crashed through windows or put himself in harm’s way. He had never before been described as reckless or heroic and he didn’t wish to be called so now. It didn’t feel good. He didn’t regret it—god no, how could he? But if there was one thing in the whole of the world that Franklin knew he was _not—_ it was a hero.

He was shaking, his whole body trembling while his breaths came stuttering and jittery through his teeth. There was nothing that could compare to pain like this—save the pain that was in his heart. He wanted to scream. He wanted to die. He hadn’t even noticed it at first—it had been nothing to him with the surge of panic and emotion that drove him to crash through the parlor window and bodily lift the burning beams with every ounce of his _Alpha_ strength. The Alpha inside him raged to life with a force unmatched and he had thrown debris, heedless to the flames that licked at him.

He had thought himself too late. When he pulled the small Brackley from the inferno, he’d thought he had arrived just minutes too late—a crime he would never forgive. He had held the young Omega in his arms, weeping and begging. Begging without hearing his own words, babbling without coherence for him to awaken. To open his eyes and know him. Know that he loved him. Know that he was so, _so_ sorry.

Brackley’s first small cough and the sips of breath that were choked and thin had brought Franklin’s heart back to his body and the arrival of the doctors had brought his mind back to the present.

The present which saw him sitting back upon an unknown couch in a house that was opened up across the street from the Brackley manor to tend to the wounded. As far as he could tell, he and Brackley were the only wounded. The elder Mr. Brackley was in his night clothes and dressing gown, leaning against the wall and staring at nothing, black soot on his face and all over the front of him. He didn’t react to anything anyone said to him and Franklin could almost feel for him. It was difficult to feel anything or think anything past the worst pain he’d ever felt in his life. He was shaking. He couldn’t help it. He wasn’t sure if it was adrenaline, emotion, or just the result of being forced to stay awake through the aftermath of _Alpha_ strength. Whatever it was, it wasn’t easy to watch. He had gathered that from the women who stayed far from the room while the kind Beta doctor carefully snipped away the tattered remains of his gloves, peeling the fabric away from his skin.

His labored breathing and the soft snipping of scissors were the only sounds in the room and soon he was nude from the waist up though he couldn’t see the extent of his burns. He could see his hands and his arms, welted and blistering. He could feel his nerves screaming silently against the cold air of this unfamiliar room and he knew the burns snaked up his neck, a line of pain marking beneath his jaw and burning— _burning!_ —just to the side of his chin.

The doctor’s voice was soft and calming as he dipped compresses into a bowl of clean water, wringing them out before administering them to Franklin’s arms and chest. “That was a very brave thing you did, Alpha.”

“I-I’m…” he almost couldn’t speak though the coolness of the compresses was a minor relief at least. “I’m n-not a h-hero.”

“You’re as close as a man can get to one. Believe me, boy, there’s no such thing as saints or heroes. Only men who risk and some who risk for little reward.”

“It…” he felt tears slid from his eyes and so he closed them, trying to relax as he felt another compress come over his screaming flesh. “It w-wasn’t for l-little. It w-was…for…”

“You may have saved his life. I don’t mean to discount that, Alpha. But if I were you, I would not hinge my own worth upon whether or not he lives or dies…his state is grim.”

He gave a slight sob and grimaced against the cold that came over his throat. “I’m no hero…” he murmured upward, his eyes still closed. “I just didn’t think…”

“It doesn’t take thought. It only takes timing, luck, and most of the time stupidity. These three things I’ve found come to Alphas in spades. Last one, Alpha, then you may rest.” He laid another compress down, this time over Franklin’s shoulder. “You’ll likely recover though you’ll scar. How badly, one cannot know. I hope it will be worth it. I hope he will live. If only for your sake. God knows, he might be better off slipping away.” He got up then, leaving Franklin in the room alone with the older Brackley who had not made a single sound and had not moved.

The only sign when he did move was the sound of a decanter clinking against a glass and it caused Franklin to open his eyes despite the weight of his tiredness nearly overtaking him. The man was pouring himself a drink with shaking hands and when he turned around and saw Frank staring at him, he clutched it to his chest as though it might protect him from some kind of accusation. “I need…” he started, looking down at the brandy and then up again. “I need to thank you, Alpha, but I cannot bring myself to do it yet. Please understand.”

He didn’t reply. He wasn’t certain if he could. He closed his eyes again and then immediately opened them, the memory of walking down the street this morning coming back to him. The gray cloudy sky cut by a blackened smoke and how his footfalls had seemed muffled against the panic in his ears. Arvick Hardvan’s face, mottled with a burn that had spread across the bridge of his nose and forced one eye shut—the way the man had desperately grasped his lapels and begged him.

“ _Alpha! I can’t find him! I can’t! I can’t see him! Please—_ _ **do something!**_ ”

It was as though the man’s voice had contained the power of an Alpha. There was nothing Franklin could do to stop himself. He didn’t think. He could only move. He could only crash through where Hardvan gestured desperately and rage through the fire until he had found him—trapped beneath a beam that had fallen over his lower legs. He was slumped down against a still-viable wall and he was limp like some discarded doll. Thought had not come to him until much later. There was no time. There was only action and panic and a surge of something primal that drove him to scream savagely as he lifted the beam with his gloved hands and throw it aside before he pulled the Omega away.

He looked at the placid overcast sky through the window until consciousness couldn’t stay any longer and he felt himself lose the battle against closing his eyes. It was as though he merely blinked but the heaviness that was over him was complete. When he woke, he knew time had passed but couldn’t be sure of just how much. The doctor was changing his compresses and there was a warm hand on his forehead.

“ _Mama…_ ” he mumbled.

“ _A leanbh,_ ” she replied softly, her voice gentle and her scent clear and sweet. “Of all my children I ever thought might rush into fire…you were the first that came to mind. When they told me, I knew it was you.”

Confusion gnawed through the haze in his mind.

She was smiling down at him, her gray eyes filled with an affectionate amusement. “You smell like you don’t believe me. But I’m your mother. I know my son. You take after your father, you know. Sometimes he does noble things without necessarily meaning to. That does not make them any less noble, though I know you will argue that point. You see…I will repeat: I know my son.”

The side of his mouth tightened into a wry half-grin. “I g-guess you’ve got a-all the answers.”

“I do.” Her smile was wide. “You just never think to ask.”

He sighed, his breath still shaky with his pain. “Th-the Omega…”

“He’s resting.”

A waterfall of relief rushed through him. He didn’t know how long he was asleep and though there was no possible function he could have to keep Brackley alive, it seemed safer if he was awake somehow. As though the boy’s soul would not feel the strength of his adoration should he be sleeping. “I…I didn’t mean for…”

She stared at him, her smile fading. “Frank…you don’t think…”

He felt a hot wetness come to the backs of his eyes and he couldn’t speak.

“Oh no. Mm…no.” She shook her head definitively. “I want you to put it out of your mind entirely that somehow you could have done more. You could not have left earlier. You could not have written anything differently. What is done is done. That’s all. This is what’s happened and there is no wondering what could have been different.”

“It hurts, Mama…” he mumbled, and he knew that she could tell he wasn’t talking about the burns.

“ _A stóirín…_ ” she sighed, “I know. I know…” Her gentle hand came to his forehead and his hair and she petted him gently. “Shhh…darling. Time. Time moves and heals.”

“If…If he…” _Dies._ He couldn’t think of it. Franklin would never be able to live with himself if the boy died. He was to blame for this. All of this. If he had never done what he did—taking away all his suitors and all his options—he would never have been drawn in by the slippery Beta. If he had never confronted the man. If he had done everything differently then this never would have happened. Nobody would have been hurt. He might not have ever made it into Franklin’s arms but at the very least, if he had he wouldn’t have been…

He sniffed, trying not to focus on how badly it hurt to breathe, the burns on his flesh stretching with every slight movement.

His mother sat back in her seat, studying him. “I think we ought to go home. Back to the country.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. The best doctors are in London.”

She raised her brows and gave a little impertinent sniff. “I understand you’re badly burned, Frank, but you know all those ointments are a sham. Dr. Benson has said it will take about two weeks for the worst of it—”

“I don’t give a damn about me.”

“Oh.” She nodded suddenly. Her eyes lifted to the doorway just beyond Franklin’s eyesight and he found he could not turn his head for the burns on his neck were too painful. He could hear, nevertheless, the low tone of his father.

“I’m of the mind that Frank should stay. In fact, I think that when it is feasible to do so, we should host the Brackley’s with us in our house in town. I do not think we can move the little one for a few days…he’s not stable enough. But as soon as it is possible…he should come with us, along with his family and their staff. We can do much for them and we should.”

His mother looked down at him, a knowing glint in her eye. “Do you see what I mean about his being noble?”

His father came about into Franklin’s line of sight. “I’m not doing it to be noble. I’m doing it because I know Frank.”

She winked at him.

The Viscount gave gentle snuff of dismissal. “He’ll want to keep his Omega close. So he can keep an eye on him. He’s in a bad way now so if there’s a chance he’ll recover, he’ll be able to fight for that chance much better with double the amount of staff keeping track of him and, of course, the watchful eye of an Alpha who won’t let anything by.”

“As though an Alpha could stop the hand of death himself,” his mother chided lightly. “Nevertheless, I agree. Let us hope he survives the night. We can present the idea tomorrow when his father is in a better state to accept. Is all of this suitable to you, Frank? It doesn’t matter, of course, we are making the decision whether you find it suitable or not.”

He made a low sound of approval, opting to keep his thoughts to himself. They wouldn’t be useful anyhow. His parents had always been rather cavalier about everything and he supposed that the possible death of his beloved could not be something that was sacred in the least. But, he had to hand it to them, they had been delicate enough here to remain optimistic.

As it turned out, optimism was somewhat warranted. The man who owned the house they were in, Mr. Carlsbury, let him stay until the morrow in one of the rooms upstairs and though the night was harrowing, he was at the very least comforted in knowing Brackley was alive from the distant sounds of his weeping cries.

_Cold comfort is all you’ll ever have. He’s in pain because of you. He could die because of what you’ve done. Was this what you wanted, Frank? If you couldn’t have him, nobody else could either? Listen to him. He’s screaming. Your heart is pounding. Your body is thrumming with the urge to get up and hold him and comfort him but what could you do? To even move one inch is agony for you and for him…for him…more than agony. Remember Dr. Benson’s words?_

_“God knows, he might be better off slipping away.”_

It was pitch black in the room and he knew it was past midnight. The only two things filling up his mind were the pain he felt and Brackley’s agonized wails. Despite the delicate partial bath his mother had assisted him with, he could still smell the soot and the fire in his hair and his skin. The very atmosphere of the house was that of hushed sorrow and he could feel it over him like a veil of gloom. There was instinct singing in his blood. _Get up. Get up. Go. Hold him. Tell him everything will be alright. Tell him you’ll never let him be hurt again._ Another ghastly cry warbled, muffled through the walls and his heart thudded harder. The pools of tears soaking into his pillow at his ears and temples were simultaneously warm and cold, constantly refreshing as the weight of his misery pressed him down and kept him awake. He didn’t sleep until about an hour after the tired howls of his Omega faded and he was alone with his thoughts again. Still, he was not sure how long he lasted in his dreamless sleep. The sun was just barely gracing the horizon when he was awoken again by less fervent lamentations from the younger Mr. Brackley.

His skin felt tight and though it was still quite painful, it had lessened somewhat. His valet, a Beta named Geoffrey, helped him with his morning routine and he was sufficiently embarrassed by plenty of what the man had to assist with. He and Geoff had never been particularly fond of conversing beyond serious matters and so he was rather surprised when he found the man to be rather emotional when all was said and done and Franklin was laying abed again, staring at his platter of breakfast foods without means to pick up his utensils to eat it. Franklin peered curiously over at the Beta, unsure how to ask the man if he might feed him when his scent was so clearly distressed.

“Umm…” he tried, finding himself interrupted.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Thornley,” he managed. “Please forgive me. I’d not been prepared to see you…”

Franklin blew a tick of his amusement in a soft chuckle. “I must look a fright.”

“It…it will scar, will it not?”

“Likely.”

“At the very least, it has for the most part avoided your face then…excepting that small bit which has marred your jaw. Forgive me…I have known you so long and I cannot think of the pain you have endured…”

“Please, Geoffrey. Clear it from your mind and comfort yourself knowing that the worst pain is my pride when I ask you this.”

He perked, ready for any request.

“Might you fill my fork for me? I fear I won’t be able to use my fingers for a few days at least.”

“Oh! Of course, sir. How silly of me. I…I’ve not considered your limitations properly. Graces,” he fretted as he worked to do so, mumbling a bit. “I do not mean to come with excuses, sir, but I have spent the night in this house and I have been told that the little one is expected to be moved to the manor. I cannot wait for the day, sir, for the manor is much larger and perhaps I will not…I will not _hear him._ ”

Franklin was propped up by his many pillows and he stared at the sky outside his window, changing from orange and red to a clear morning blue. His voice was only just above a whisper. “It is terrible, isn’t it?”

Geoffrey’s eyes were moist. “When they changed his bandages, he had fainted…I was assisting Dr. Benson…it…he…I do not know how he will survive. Surely he will be taken by fever. His legs…”

“Benson knows what he is doing. He’s a forward-thinker.” Felix was always talking about holding “forward-thinking” doctors in high esteem. Franklin had often thought he only did so because “forward-thinking” doctors were the type who held better opinions of Omegas. They were not prone to claiming that any of an Omega’s problems were caused by _hysterics._ They were also not prone to _touching_ Omegas when and where they did not wish to be touched. But when pressed, Felix had revealed to him at length studies brought to the fore by doctors who adhered to new and rather practical medical advices and advancements—particularly the notion of a peculiar and surly Hungarian named Semmelweis.

Geoff nodded, wiping at a tear which had escaped onto his cheek. “Benson is a strange bird, I say…but I hope you are right. I hope that will save the little one. He is so handsome…still, even. His burns are only to his legs…you would not know it to look at him. I daresay, if he were to recover, his scars would be hidden entirely.”

“Good. We will hope.”

“If only you could be so lucky, sir. Perhaps it will not be so bad upon your face…”

“It is only a little. I will survive.” He ate then, finishing the whole of his breakfast and feeling very much invigorated by it. “Geoffrey? I wish to go to him.”

He started a bit in his shock and then settled quickly. “Oh, of course you would. I will inquire as to his state. They will, perhaps, keep any from the room should they not be properly prepared. Benson made me scrub my hands in a rather vile solution which made me itch and dried my skin. I don’t think you ought to put your hands in something like that until you’re healed.”

“If I don’t make certain, with my own eyes, that he is alive and fighting to stay that way, I think I will go mad.”

* * *

Nathan, Viscount Ormsby, was at the doorway for a minute or two, watching his second son. Franklin had insisted upon at least wearing his shirtsleeves and though he was obviously in a hideous amount of pain, he held together rather well, sitting back in one of the wing-backed chairs close by to the unconscious Omega. He was studying the boy’s features as though he were some priceless relic hidden away in some museum and yet—there was something there that was more than this distant appreciation. There was something deeper that was hidden behind the pain he could see in Franklin’s expression.

_Love?_ Nathan wasn’t certain he could really tell what love looked like on another person. He’d seen it, surely, but he hadn’t been thoroughly sure he’d recognize it without knowing beforehand that someone was entirely infatuated. He’d already known that Amelia was in love with Hugh. He’d already known that Cuthbert was in love with him. For that matter, he’d known from the moment his first son was old enough to be looking at other boys that he was falling desperately in love with the handsome stable boy. But Franklin? He didn’t really know.

Frank had always kept his feelings close to his chest. He’d never let others know what he was feeling unless he was forced. Emotions in Alphas were a sign of weakness when it came to those who studied at Eton and Cambridge. He, himself, had known that. It simply hadn’t changed anything. He’d always been a rather gentle Alpha and he’d hidden away with the plants to focus on his botany and the other sciences. It was calming among the Alpha girls and the Betas—he never had to fight with them for attention or a place to speak and he was fond of their calm demeanor. But Frank was a sportsman. His friends were _Alphas_. They always had an eye to weakness.

So Frank closed himself off and made it difficult to spot love if it grew. It wasn’t difficult, however, to note that he was fond of sport…and perhaps making Omegas a part of his sport. Nathan supposed that was what he was really worried about. If Frank _wasn’t_ in love with this Omega, and was merely playing with him for _sport…_ Well. He supposed that what he had in mind would be a suitable punishment for that, and though entirely unfair to the boy, it would at the very least provide for him in a world without much hope left at all.

He left his son to watch over the little one and wandered to the drawing room where the elder Brackley sat sipping tea with Amelia. When he arrived, his wife poured him a cup and handed it to him upon its little saucer and he stared at it, vexed by how small it looked in his hands. He swore the tea cups in his own house must have been much larger than these. Still, he took a sip.

“My Lord,” Brackley greeted, his face flushed and his eyes wet. Nathan couldn’t blame this Alpha for showing emotion—his only son was teetering on the edge. If it had been Felix… He didn’t want to think about that.

“Mr. Brackley. It’s only been one night and I realize this could be overly soon, but I suggest we move the boy to our home here in town. We’d have a much easier time looking after him and I’m certain Mr. Carlsbury would be quite happy to have his house back.”

He blinked. “W-why? What could…why would you offer? Is…is there something I can do for you, my Lord?”

Nathan sat, setting the disappointing tea down upon the platter. “Well, to be quite honest, yes. But I don’t think we should discuss it now. We should, perhaps, wait until your son shows more promise. There is no point in counting the chicks before they’ve hatched.”

“I find myself asking for forgiveness often,” Brackley told him, blinking tiredly, “but forgive me, my Lord…I would like to count my chicks. If I have nothing left, I have a dream of chicks. You cannot possibly know how much I love my son. I…I had such high hopes for him. That he should one day marry a decent fellow…find happiness…bear my grandchildren. Now I…I suppose I’ll have to admit to myself that all I can hope for is whatever future he might have now… I cannot tell myself that he might not have one. I cannot bear it.”

Nathan took in a steeling breath and shared a commiserating look with his wife who sipped her tea to keep herself from speaking. It was a tactic she oft utilized at home and, to Nathan at least, it had the extra effect of lightening his own mood. He nodded, clasping his hands behind his back and getting right down to it. “Should your son make a decent recovery, Mr. Brackley, I would like to arrange a marriage with him if you’re at all agreeable to the notion.”

His glazed eyes seemed to sharpen for a moment and he drew his gaze over Nathan then, fully seeing him as though for the first time. “What?”

Nathan cleared his throat awkwardly. “A marriage, Mr. Brackley. I thought that since he will certainly not have a wealth of prospects after an event such as this, we might as well take care of that little trifle. Of course, it’s a trifle to me—it is a great deal more for everyone else involved, I daresay. I’d like your son to marry mine. Since Frank did happen to dive into a burning parlor to rescue him, I can’t imagine your little one would object mightily.”

“N-No…I don’t think he could.”

“I would not allow my son to settle him in an out-of-the-way manor house and go frolicking either.” He frowned. “He will adhere to a contract and I intend to make it reasonable…with your input, of course. I know you don’t know him but Frank is a very rational and respectful Alpha. He’s got a good head on his shoulders and he knows how to run an estate profitably.”

“He is your heir?”

“He is. Eventually, he will be Viscount. He’s got a good constitution, a handsome face, and a very…” He glanced at his wife who looked back at him with a curious expression. “A very strict set of morals.”

Amelia raised her brows as if to add, _God knows where those came from._

“You make a compelling argument in his favor, my Lord. I admit…I had heard my son was being courted by a Beta gentleman but no doubt the man will abandon him now. Should I say yes to your proposal, will I have to expect that your son will fight your decision? It is rare to arrange something so late in a man’s life and he will likely push against your meddling.”

Nathan allowed himself a smile. “No. He will not fight it.”

“You’re so confident.”

“I’ve reason to be.” He didn’t want to tell the man that he was fairly certain Frank was in love with his son. That was something he wished would come out between the two of them before it was ever discussed outside their family. With this, Brackley nodded and agreed with the plan, the evening then spent going over the boring particulars of a contract that might be drawn up by their solicitors. They had drafted a set of notes on a spare parchment and Nathan kept it safe in his pocket, intending to present it to Franklin as soon as was prudent. After all, the Alpha _would_ be marrying this Omega.

_Or else._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update today. Sorry for all I've done to Redge. x___x;;;


	9. Chapter 9

Redge no longer held in any sort of regard the concept of time. It could have been hours. It could have been days. It could have been weeks. Months. Years. He slipped between dreamless formlessness and the amorphous stinging, biting pain that plagued him with every waking moment. Or was it not while awake? Was it while dreaming? Did it follow him even into that deep darkness? How could he know? He was aware of very little beyond that horrible pain which radiated upward from his legs and seemed to occupy more of him than he could imagine. The whole of him sometimes seemed as though it were on fire but he knew that could not be possible.

There was no fire. Not anymore. There was warmth, there was laudanum, there was darkness, pain and—

It remained. That which had come to him at the moment most dire. The memory of _evergreen._

“ _Alpha_.”

It woke him. It was as though it were inside him and outside of him at the same time and when he wished to open his eyes, they rolled backwards without his consent, as though seeking to avoid confrontation with the dim lamplight beside him. It was, for the most part, dark. Night? He couldn’t tell. Sometimes when one was in a sick room, one was subjected to much darkness even during the day.

Pain radiated upwards, burning over him and immediately causing his heart to pound in his chest. He blinked, his eyes rolling again until he could control them enough to focus on that soft glowing light.

_Evergreen. The glint of a golden eye. The gentle swoop of feathers as prey is caught and lifted into the wild blue. Moisture spraying from spruce tips as the beat of wings disturbs the air above and all in nature is good and right—even death._

“ _Alpha._ ” He heard it this time—a half whisper which came from his own lips. It shocked him a little that he had a voice—that he was not simply a wandering spirit and that he could hear himself. That he could feel the blankets around him and not just the pain that had defined his form for a time immeasurable. He swallowed, feeling the dryness in his throat.

A man was with him. He was in his shirtsleeves, his cravat missing and in his eyes a terrible vacant sadness that sent a chill straight to Redge’s bones. Upon his face, over his jaw, was a dark patch—a scar—that widened as it trailed down his throat and disappeared beneath the fabric of his shirt and his gaze was dull over Redge’s face when he found him to be awake.

_A regal stag peering over his shoulder, flicking his ears lazily about before turning down toward a stream of cool, clear water for a drink. The call of wilderness. Vast. Open. Green and lush._

Redge slowly licked his lips, finding his tongue holding barely enough saliva to do the job. He could conjure only the slightest wisp of his voice.

“ _It’s you._ ”

The dullness in the man’s eyes shattered and the vacant nature of his sadness gave way to a refined despair. “Yes…” he murmured softly, “it’s me.”

It was all Redge could manage for now and he tried to move his hand where it lay by his side, sliding it across the counterpane until his delicate bare wrist was facing upward and his hand was limp toward the Alpha. His unspoken gesture was rewarded when the man reached out, his hand—scarred very much the same as his throat—gently grasping at Redge’s fingers, holding him with reverence and, dare he think it, _hope._ There was a sparkle of it…there had to be. Redge could smell it. Even beyond the sourness of his own pain, he could smell it and it tingled in his nose.

_Sun shining through dark clouds, glinting over the snow at the peak of a mighty and shy mountain which glances from the heavens as though she wonders every so often what mortal men might think of her._

He felt his eyes roll back again and the darkness swept over him, engulfing him in nothingness and leaving only image in its wake. Again he could not know how long he slept. Perhaps it was only for a night. Or perhaps it was only for the _rest_ of a night. When he woke again, it could not have been very long. He deduced this only by one simple reasoning.

The Alpha was still there. He was still in his shirtsleeves. His cravat was still missing. He still held Redge’s fingers in his hand. There was daylight peeking through closed curtains, casting a light about the room while Redge fought himself to wake through the haze of laudanum. His breaths felt heavy and his body felt weak. So, so weak.

He turned his head toward his companion who had fallen asleep some time ago, his back and neck bent so that he could prop up his face upon the arm which did not hold Redge’s hand. He was handsome despite the ugly dark color of the scar over the bottom of his jaw which appeared as though it may still be an angry and healing injury.

_Burns._

His pain was still great but it surely had lessened no small amount and now he found himself wondering what in the hell had happened to him that he would be subjected to this unfortunate state—and alone with an Alpha.

_My legs. I remember the smoke. I remember the haze that came around me and the bleakness about me. I remember a terrible weight._

He couldn’t drag himself upward quite yet and so he merely lay there, experimenting with his toes to see if he might be able to wiggle them just slightly but he could not be certain that he was doing it at all. He could not even bring himself upwards to sit so that he might find out if he even had his feet left or if they had desperately amputated them like they did to those poor Americans who had fought so assiduously for the rights of men who had toiled under slavery. Those men who were so egregiously wounded that the only solution was to cut off the offending limb.

_My god, have they cut off my legs? Do I feel only a false imagining of my own toes? Am I to survive this? And if I do survive this, will I have wished that I had not?_

He peered over at the Alpha again, wondering how the devil he was supposed to think of him. He hadn’t a name in any of his correspondence. But he _was_ Redge’s Alpha. He was the man who had sent him those letters. He was the Alpha whose scent had been so damnably vexing—that he had chased around ballrooms and against the trees in Hyde Park. The scent that had always been floating about but had never made itself fully known for the man it belonged to. Here he was. Here he was and he was _handsome._ He was unguarded as he slept, his face unmarred by the ugliness of despair which had come over him prior and with his countenance in repose, he was very much to Redge’s particular taste.

_You’re in pain. You’re not allowed to think about what he might look like beneath his clothes. You’re not allowed to imagine things like that—not when he’s right next to you and there’s no possible way to escape. Not when there’s such a burning in your legs…even if it is rather muted just now. Not when your life has changed so much…when it might just be so short…_

He sniffed softly, a moisture pooling in his eyes.

_It might be so short, it won’t make a difference either way._

He tightened his hold just slightly on the Alpha’s fingers, not enough to squeeze but enough to feel the warmth of them—the human contact just enough for him to feel truly as though he were not alone. He would like to be touched by this Alpha. Just a little more. Perhaps a hug. Perhaps a kiss. Perhaps the length of him tucked up against him sharing warmth in the middle of a winter day when a nap seemed like just the thing to help ward away the cold. He would have liked a lot of things with this Alpha. But those hopes were probably nothing more than just useless wishes now. He wasn’t worth marriage now. He wasn’t worth much of anything now. He couldn’t even feel his toes.

The Alpha woke slowly, his thumb barely moving to swipe over Redge’s fingers, sending a shimmer of something through them and up his arm to his heart where it caused him to suck in a breath. He was big. It was difficult to know how tall he was but Redge was certain that the man was impressively built, his shoulders broad, his jaw strong, and his arms thick and well-muscled. His eyes fluttered open to reveal their dark gray color, a pensiveness coming to his expression and wiping away the clear openness that had been apparent in sleep.

Redge whispered at him, his throat still dry. “Good morning, Alpha.”

The stranger leaned forward suddenly and then clearly winced at the pain it caused him before he ignored it and reached out his free hand to gently touch the backs of his fingers over Redge’s forehead as though to check for a fever.

Redge watched him as he gave himself a small, curt nod and then sat back again, a subtle fear behind his gaze when he looked back down toward the Omega.

“I’m thirsty, Alpha…”

“I’ll fetch you water.”

“Wait.” He pinched down on the man’s fingers to keep him from moving. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the Alpha who sent me the letters.”

He nodded, swallowing hard.

“Do you still fear great pain?”

“I am in great pain…though not as great as yours.”

“Do you still fear great love?”

“I am in great love. Far greater than any man who has ever loved before.”

“Do you still fear me?”

“Yes. You hold my heart, Omega. Should you choose, you may kill me with a word.”

He smiled, letting out an amused breath before he paused to study the man who had claimed such a ridiculous thing with such clear conviction. “You came. That morning. You came and you…” The memory of evergreen in the warped darkness came to him. “You came to me in the fire. You pulled me out…didn’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. When I heard that you…” he blinked away apparent tears that had accumulated in his eyes. “When I heard that you had not escaped, I broke through the window and I found you.”

“Do I still have my legs? I cannot feel my feet.”

“Yes. You have them. And though you may find it difficult to feel them, the doctor has found that you do have a modicum of sensation. He’s done some experiments while you slept. You were responsive.”

Redge cleared his throat, finding it difficult to speak with how dry his throat was still. “He tickled my feet, didn’t he? I have horribly ticklish feet.”

“I’ll fetch you water.”

“Wait.” Panic struck him at the thought that the Alpha might leave and not come back. He had spent so long without him and now that he had him here, he could not imagine letting him go so easily. “I’m not ready to be alone.”

“O-Of course. I’ll ring the bell then.”

“Will you come back after and hold my hand like you are now?”

He paused for a moment and then nodded slowly. “Yes. I promise.” Only then was he allowed to get up, moving to the bell to ring it before he came back immediately and sat, gingerly adjusting himself so that his burns might not pain him so terribly. Of course, it was at this moment, when he offered his hand to Redge again that the Omega clearly understood why he had woken at the softest pressure upon his fingers.

“Oh…I…I’m sorry…I didn’t know…” he stumbled in his whispers, very gently letting the Alpha place his badly burned fingers against Redge’s.

“They are not so terrible. I did not lose any of my fingers and the doctor has told me that over time, it is likely that where they are used—my palms and the like, will appear as normal…though the rest of them may be different forever.”

“I’m sorry,” Redge repeated.

The Alpha frowned in his confusion. “You owe me nothing, Omega. An apology is the last of things anyone should expect from you. Please…place it out of your mind.”

He swallowed, coughing a bit as an unfamiliar servant arrived in the room and the Alpha asked him for water and a tea tray. When the staff was gone and they were again alone, he gazed upon the Alpha with a tiredness coming to him again, teasing him with the promise of rest while the burning in his legs increased. “Tell me your name, Alpha.”

“Thornley. My father is a Viscount…Lord Ormsby.”

“And your given name?”

He hesitated for only a second, as though weighing whether or not he really could admit to who he was. “Franklin. My family calls me Frank.”

“What do you want me to call you?”

“It would be prudent—”

“You can call me Redge. That’s what my family calls me.” He sighed, wishing this fatigue would simply leave him be.

Frank gave a small sniff. “Frank, then. I would…I would like that.”

He smiled, pleased, before the door opened and the tea tray was brought with a pitcher of water and a glass next to the teapot. Frank concentrated hard to move his hands so that he might pour the water into the glass and both he and the footman tried to move Redge as gently as they could so that he could be sitting among the many soft, comfortable pillows that lay at the head of the bed so that he might drink. He found his arms to be heavy-feeling and weak but he could hold his own glass and he did so even as he trembled.

“Are you feeling hungry?” Frank asked him, pouring his own tea. “There are cakes here though you may wish for something more substantial.”

He rested his hand over his stomach. “I could eat…I think…”

“That’s good. I…” He set his tea down on its saucer where it sat on the tray and rubbed at his forehead. “I wanted to tell you…how…well gods…I don’t know how to say it.”

Redge finished about half his glass of water and focused on the way the man was gently touching at his own hair, his hands trembling perhaps with nervousness and pain. “This is, perhaps, a terrible question to ask an Alpha who has done what you have done…but…there was a man. A Beta…”

“Hardvan,” Frank replied, his voice stiffer than it had been thus far. “He…he tried to find you but the smoke and the flame were too much. He did escape…but…”

Redge nodded. “Has he come to see me?”

“No.”

“You didn’t let him.”

“I would have let him had he come. But he hasn’t. I can’t lie to you and tell you that I’d like to see him even if that’s what you deserve from him. I…I would rather that…”

“I think I know what you’d rather.”

He stared down at Redge’s feet—two lumps very much present beneath the counterpane and the sheets. “I suppose it doesn’t matter what I’d rather. It doesn’t matter what any of us really want. What’s done is done.”

There was a finality in his voice along with that deep and resounding sadness that had placed a chill in Redge’s bones before and placed it there even harder at the resonance of his words. He wanted to go back to the simplicity of waking. He wanted to open his eyes and discover this man again and the gentleness of his touch. Impulsively, he reached out, leaning back against the pillows and closing his eyes when he felt those warm fingers come under his again and very softly hold him.

He was alone. But he wasn’t alone. Alone with this Alpha. With Frank. Handsome, noble, honest—Frank. _Finally._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Handsome--check. Noble--check. Honest-- _ehnnnn_


	10. Chapter 10

Redge Brackley was a quiet little fellow, as Franklin came to know very well. He was not prone to emotional outbursts like many other Omegas were and he took things in stride as they happened. He lingered a bit on great tragedies but even as they bothered him, he could not bring himself to complain much. Every so often, Franklin caught him looking down at his legs and his ankles which were often exposed so that the doctor might see them and make sure they were healing as well as they could and his face was a complex portrait of deep thoughts which would likely never come to his lips. He clearly found the state of himself to be far beyond reality—as though those parts of his body were now unfamiliar.

Franklin sought to be with him at every moment but at times was compelled to leave for the sake of privacy or comfort. When he was away, he felt a tugging and nagging urge to find him again, as though to leave him was a great discomfort—which, if you were to ask him, most certainly was. He wasn’t all that certain how Redge felt about him but he had the idea nevertheless that the boy was at least fond of him. His hint came in the way Redge’s scent warmed and tickled at him like melted fudge to be drizzled over party confections. It was so far removed from the comfort of Hugh’s scent of sweet tobacco that he nearly found it dizzying in its sweetness as close as he was. Still—it was addicting. He couldn’t help but feel that scent, directly at Redge’s soft throat, could be the end of him.

The Omega, being a less talkative sort than most chatty little ones, often simply sat with him, his hand laying upon Franklin’s and his fingers softly grazing the flesh of Franklin’s palm or sometimes the pads of his fingers. As a natural progression of things, the Alpha’s wounds healed in the weeks that Redge was confined to bed and he slowly began to regain full use of his hands though feeling was not quite the same as of yet and was accompanied by a dull tingling whenever he touched anything at all.

He was sitting with Redge one morning, reading the paper to him as the light from the window wasn’t at all very accessible from where the Omega sat in bed and was, in fact, much better in the seat next to the bed, when the doctor arrived with his bag and announced that this was the day that Redge would finally stand up. Not only would he stand, the doctor professed, he would _walk_ , albeit with plenty of support.

“And _you_ , Alpha, might make do to serve as his crutches for now. Get up, get up, and throw those covers off, Mr. Brackley, you’re going to get yourself on your feet today and you’re going to do it with the Honourable Mr. Thornley as your guide.”

Franklin stood, feeling a gentle tug on his fingers as Redge tightened his hold. “Redge? Is something the matter?”

“Yes…I…I don’t feel like I can stand.”

His heart ached and he felt a band of emotion begin to tighten in his belly. “Well of course you can stand. I’ll be holding you. Around your back. I’ll stoop to give you the whole of my arm.”

The Omega’s eyes were filled with apprehension and a wetness that was threatening Franklin’s very sanity. “I…you will not let me fall, will you?”

_I have failed you a thousand times before. I will not fail you now. I cannot. Not if seek to live my life in service of you. And I will. I will, by god._

“No, no…do not think it. I will hold you up. There is nothing to fear. I won’t let you fall.”

The doctor snapped, “Of course he won’t! He’s a good young gentleman. One of the best, I’m sure. Raised right, went to school, knows how to take care of a young debutante with the rest of them. Now, Mr. Brackley,” he smiled warmly, “let him dance with you.”

The humor didn’t seem to strike at Redge in any manner that counted and so he merely appeared quite vexed, pulling the counterpane away from his legs so that he might drag himself to the edge of the bed. Franklin was able to help him a little, trying to avoid looking at the way his nightclothes and his dressing gown hiked up with his movements, the hem rising on his legs until the edge reached the end of his scarring and began to reveal smooth, pale flesh. Eventually, both his feet were on the floor, the bottoms of them undamaged but the tops of them and his ankles very gnarled by scar tissue and oddly discolored. They were not finished healing and there was quite a bit of skin that was raw and angry which reached nearly to his knees.

“Are you ready, Omega?” Franklin asked him in a soft, low tone.

“I would much rather be listening to you read me the news.”

“Can I place my arm around you?”

In the sunlight which filtered in through the window, Redge’s cheeks turned a dusty pink and he nodded without words. The action naturally placed Franklin’s face very close to the Omega, letting him covertly gain a very, _very_ close whiff of his scent which could have sent him over the moon and stars. He was glad that he had taken that first sip of him before he had helped him to his feet for he really might have dropped him.

_Sunshine. Daisies. Sun of the Earth. The eye of the day. Life. Spirited, shining, glowing the gold which forms the silver of the moon. A glint over freshly laid snow which makes a man squint his eyes for its brilliance. Pure, spreading light._

“Frank?” he murmured, shifting a bit and bringing Franklin back to himself.

He blinked, realizing suddenly that his nose was almost touching Redge’s neck. He cleared his throat, turning away only to feel the brush of Redge’s cheek across the very tip of his nose. He was so soft. He was so pliant and forgiving. God, he didn’t deserve this sweet little thing in his arms. Frank adjusted himself and tamed the wildness that was in his throat enough to speak. “Alright. Are you ready? I’m ready…”

“I suppose I must be.” When Frank urged him to his feet, taking most of his weight against his arm and steadying him with the other hand, he gave out a little yelp of pain. “ _Oh no! Put me down! Put me down!_ ”

He set him down again and felt his shaking and smelled the sharp tang of his pain. “Is it your ankles? There must be something to steady them…”

The doctor tsked. “We cannot brace them until the skin is healed completely. If you do, you run the risk of cutting off the healing of his blood.”

Redge sniffed, wiping at the moisture in his eyes. “They feel so weak…I feel that they might just break. As though my bones have been made brittle by the heat…”

Franklin very quietly shushed him, turning his head to touch the side of his lips against the boy’s hair. “ _You’re alright. Everything is alright. I’m here._ ”

He calmed a bit at those words. “I…I’d like to try again. Only a moment.”

Dr. Benson grunted. “I will test you far further than a moment, Brackley.”

Franklin puffed an assertive breath out his nose. “You will test him no more than he is ready for.”

“Do you trust me, Alpha? I should assume that you do or at least that you did since your own wounds have very nearly healed completely and it is only due to my direction. My contemporaries might have had you flushing your wounds with turpentine for how much they know. His bones are strong. It is only that he has not used those muscles and they have not been able to have massage to keep them healthy. He will build them and to build them he must test them. Everyday. Sometimes more than once.” Benson had his shoulders squared and he was rigid—it was not the first time he had ever challenged an Alpha seeking to protect an Omega.

Franklin felt himself prickle with annoyance. “He cannot be expected to do things that will hurt him greatly.”

“Oh yes, he can. If it means that he will be able to walk again, he will do much that will hurt him. Get him up again.”

He pressed his face against Redge’s hair, unwilling to force him.

Redge relaxed a bit. “It’s…it’s alright, Alpha…I will try.”

“Alright. If you’re certain.” He held him again, slowly helping him as he trembled and shook to his feet, feeling the bite of the Omega’s fingernails in the tingling skin of his arm. He kept his face close to Redge’s hair until he had the boy completely to his unsteady feet.

“ _It hurts._ ”

“I’ll let you down…”

“No!” Benson snapped. “Don’t let him down. I want him to take three steps. That’s all I want. Then you can pick him up and put him back on the bed. Three steps only.”

“He can’t,” Franklin argued.

Still, even as he said it, Redge dragged one foot forward, wobbling as he took Frank with him. He made low whining noises from the back of his throat but managed two more steps, nearly collapsing after the third. When Franklin took him into his arms, he was shaking and breathing heavily, his head against the Alpha’s chest and shoulder until he was laying back in the bed.

“ _Frank…_ ”

“Yes, I’m here…” He tucked the Omega in again, careful with the counterpane over his feet. He reached out when he saw the boy’s hand come out for him and he gripped his fingers.

“ _You’ll help me…won’t you? Everyday?”_

“I haven’t left yet, have I?”

“You don’t have other things to do…do you?”

“There is nothing more important than the work I do here. For you.”

Tears welled up in Redge’s eyes and spilled over his already wet cheeks and Franklin knew that it was everything in combination that had brought them on. He was not prone to emotional outbursts—that was true. But he held it inside and sometimes it overflowed as things were wont to do from time to time. “I am hardly enough to warrant such devotion…”

“You sell yourself short. You forget…I did pine for you, after all.” He wanted to tell him then. He wanted to tell him everything. That he had kept other Alphas from him. That he had been the evil behind the plot which had made him desperate enough to seek a Beta’s companionship. He wanted to come clean right there but he feared, still. He feared the boy telling him to leave. Telling him that he didn’t wish to see him again. He feared that Redge’s anger would leave him alone.

_Still, after everything, after all of this affection he’s shown me in touching my hand and allowing himself to be alone with me. Still I am a coward._

Redge sighed. “If you’re here with me, I will find the strength.”

It was those words that kept Franklin silent about his role in the Omega’s plight. He couldn’t reveal everything he’d done. Not now. Not when he was the source of a man’s courage in the face of pain and struggle. Perhaps he was inflating his own importance…perhaps it really wasn’t all that deep at all. But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t _want_ to tell Redge everything. He didn’t want anything to keep him from finding his way back to _his_ Omega and that incredible, brilliant scent.

Weeks progressed and with much work and frustration, it was found that Redge could stand and could even walk with the help of small wooden crutches specifically made for him which gave him support at his elbows and two grips for his hands. He resented them, that much was obvious, but they provided him a modicum of freedom though his movement was slow and stilted. For some time, he dragged his feet, his ankles near useless, but with time and effort he was able again to articulate them though not very well.

“Dash all this,” he grumbled one morning as he reached for his crutches and accidentally tipped them to the floor.

Franklin leaned over and picked them up, holding them steady for him so he could move himself properly to the edge of the bed and get a hold of them. “One day it will be second nature.” He tried to give Redge a reassuring smile. They had been together everyday for weeks now and Franklin was beginning to hope that the Omega might have begun to think of him more fondly. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t already been a little fond of him, but there was an odd schooling to his scent when Franklin was present, as though he were poorly hiding something. He didn’t want the boy to feel beholden to him. Only warm. Only friendly. Perhaps more than friendly.

_Romantic._

He immediately chastised himself. _I don’t deserve romance. I don’t deserve the way he looks at me._

Slowly but surely, Redge made his way to breakfast, allowing Franklin to make up his plate for him from the sideboard. By this time, Franklin was well-versed in everything Redge liked. He liked his eggs poached, his toast golden with no black to it, and he preferred blackberry jelly over any other kind. He liked rashers rather than sausage and absolutely hated any sort of fish. When breakfast was finished, they worked their way toward the parlor which always had the fireplace lit.

Voices floated from the door and when they entered, they found the elder Brackley and Franklin’s father sitting across from one another, their expressions appearing very expectant.

“My,” Redge mentioned softly as he worked to walk by himself into the room. “Aren’t we looking a bit somber?”

“Redge,” Brackley tried, his tone light. “A little while ago, Lord Ormsby and I had a very important discussion. Why don’t you sit?”

He paused, staring at his father while the tone of his scent altered a bit. “I think I’d like to stand.”

Franklin stood next to him, staring at his own father, wondering what in the world all of this was. It was almost as though these two had been waiting for them. Waiting to ambush them somehow.

Ormsby peered at him somewhat dispassionately. “Frank. Sit.”

He knew better than to defy his father and so with one glance to Redge, he sat in one of the spare chairs, waiting for them to deliver whatever news it was that they had been withholding. “Father? What’s this about so early in the morning?”

Ormsby leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. It was a position he normally took when he expected everything to turn out exactly the way he imagined it would. This was, more often, the case. “Mr. Brackley and I have come to a decision. For the both of us, it turns out rather well but I do acknowledge that it is in the interest of us as fathers rather than you as individuals. I, being a Lord, am accustomed to bending things to my will by force but certain things have a tendency to…spring back if they are not carefully pressured.”

“You’re applying pressure here but to what end?” Franklin asked, suddenly wary.

Brackley was next to speak, his back straight and his posture slightly forward as though he expected this all to go poorly. The opposite of his father. “Redge…I know you’re going to hate this…but you really have no choice here.”

Redge’s scent was further souring and it was putting Franklin quite on edge. “What is it in particular that you think I’m going to hate, father? To be rather honest, I’ve been feeling testy for the past few months at least and here you are waiting for me behind dark corners with cryptic words and solemn expressions. I daresay you are treading over very thin ice with my patience.” Franklin was not certain at all that he had seen this side of Redge Brackley. A formidable opponent he would have been had his legs not kept him down.

“Well, Reginald, his Lordship has suggested that you and his son be joined in marriage. I’ve agreed. It is all written up—all the contracts. The only thing left to do is marry the two of you. I’m sorry, Redge, but this option is the best for you and under the circumstances, it is the only one that I also find acceptable. You need someone to care for you and a good husband is—”

He didn’t get to finish. As he was speaking, Redge had turned around awkwardly, wobbling with his feet and his crutches toward the door while Franklin stood as though to help him. When he’d made it out of the room, that was when Brackley quit talking, staring after him helplessly.

Frank cast a frown toward his father. “Must you meddle like this, father?”

“I apologize,” he replied, not the least bit sorry, “I was under the impression that you very much would like to marry the Omega.”

“You’re forcing my hand.”

“And what would have happened had I not forced your hand? Anything at all?”

He felt his mouth twitch at the side. “And what would you do if refused?”

“You won’t refuse. You are his only option save for that Beta I heard of…hardly a viable substitute for a wealthy Alpha in line for a title.” He was still leaning back, giving Frank a bit of a lazy grin. “You’re in over your head, Frank. Let it all fall together around you. This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“Not like this.”

“Accept it, Frank. What’s done is done. You may be angry at me all you like but in the end, your only concern should be your Omega. And he _is_ your Omega…so you’d best come about and speak to him. I’ll not be giving you a choice. You’ve done this to yourself.”

He breathed in long and heavy before he sighed and relented. “Very well.” Brackley visibly relaxed, his eyes closing and his scent suddenly filled with the fragrance of complete relief. “I’ll go speak to him…”

“Alpha,” Brackley started, giving him pause, “I should be certain if only by your devotion to him for the past few weeks but please…assuage my anxieties. Do you love him?”

“I do.”

He nodded. “Then I’ve nothing to fear…and neither should you.”

 _No,_ Frank thought morosely, _such a thing means only that I have more to fear than anyone else in this house. I risk my heart in this venture and worse—I risk his._ He left, then, and followed the scent of his Omega until he found that he had entered one of the secondary parlors.

Upon entry he gave a start. “Redge!”

The Omega was laying upon his back, his fingers laced over his stomach and his crutches on the floor at either side of him. He appeared as though he were simply waiting patiently for Franklin to come upon him, seemingly unbothered at the fact that he was lying upon the cold floor. “There you are. I thought perhaps they might chat with you overly long. I think I stood longer than my accursed limbs would allow and couldn’t quite make it to this settee in time.”

Franklin’s heart was beating hard in his sudden panic. “Did you fall?! Are you hurt?!” He came to him quickly, kneeling on the floor beside him.

“I did fall and it was uncomfortable but I am unharmed mostly. I pinched my finger between the floor and my crutch and I would appreciate it very much if you might—”

Franklin, unthinking, reached down and took the boy’s hand in his own, gently kissing his fingers with reverence. “Let me help you get up.”

“I really do detest this. I’m some hideous invalid and it’s just now that I think I’m beginning to feel the weight of it. My father arranging a marriage for me…it seems almost despicable. But…when I think about it…at least…” His eyes met Franklin’s, earnest and searching. “At least it is not so bad…I searched for you, Alpha… I knew your scent. I knew you could not let me down.” He frowned, blinking a bit. “I did doubt you though…I hope you can forgive me for that.”

“Forgive _you?_ My god, Omega…” he swallowed past a growing lump. “I could never begrudge you anything…I was a coward to not approach you before Hardvan did…” He eased his arm behind Redge’s back and picked up his crutches with his other hand, hoisting him up onto the settee and sitting himself down beside him. “Are you…are you terribly upset by the decisions made by our fathers? I will resist if you find it truly awful.”

“No…I…I do not find it truly awful. The concept of it, yes…I suppose I find terrible. But the reality…having you for a mate. It cannot be so bad. Though…I wish for things. I hate to be one who makes demands but I truly will not marry you without them in the contract.”

A strange wariness filled Franklin’s chest. “What are they, little one? I think I have relented to just about anything.”

“It must seem strange,” Redge told him, refusing to meet his gaze, his eyes on the floor and shining in the white morning light from the windows. “But I am a man who enjoys certain types of touch and affection and… _intimacy._ I think…if we are to be married…I do not wish to have my own room. I wish to share your bed. Every night. Even without a heat. I should like to always have you near to me as I sleep.”

Franklin took a moment to examine the little Omega, taking in his sincerity.

“I hope that is acceptable to you, Alpha.” There was a spice in his scent as though he were just ever-so-slightly aroused by his own demand.

“Y-yes. Yes…I…I think that is acceptable. I could not be burdened by you, Redge.”

“You say so now…you hardly know me.”

“I already know everything I need to have fallen completely in love with you. There is nothing that could keep me from your side save one thing.”

Redge pinned him with a stare. “Which is?”

“You. Should you ever cast me away…I will go. But without your word, I will stay with you always. Redge…” He slid from the edge of the settee and came to one knee, reaching for the Omega’s face and skimming a thumb over his cheek. “ _Will you marry me?_ ”

He nodded bashfully, a gentle smile coming to his plush lips. “Yes, Frank. I think I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My stupid sons. I love them so much.


	11. Chapter 11

Redge had been so terribly bold. He recalled how dusky pink Frank’s cheeks had been after he had informed the solicitors of Redge’s wishes for their marriage contract. Everyone seemed very enamored of the alterations—of the Omega’s commitment to his Alpha and the ideal of the marriage bed. He was embarrassed to know that everyone who’d seen that contract would know of his hidden, perverse nature but on the whole, everyone was quite taken by the notion that he should seek affection and his father, especially, seemed pleased by it. The only person who didn’t seem entirely taken by the idea was his cousin.

He was peering into the glass over his vanity on his wedding day with white roses in a crown on his head when he saw Thomas arrive behind him through the door. The flowers added an attractive mild fragrance to his own scent and Thomas tried the air for a moment in appreciation before he approached and met Redge’s eyes through the glass.

“Morning, cousin.”

Redge gazed at him coolly. “I haven’t seen you for a while, Thomas. I hope things are well.”

“Well enough,” he grumbled.

“I’m surprised to find you here. I thought perhaps you might have become bitter toward me. Your attempt to pay your debt with my future didn’t quite pan out, did it?” He examined his cousin’s reflection, hoping to find even a hint of shame. He saw none. “Too bad, isn’t it? I suppose you’ll have to use that crafty Beta brain of yours to come up with some other plan.”

“I didn’t come here to get my nose rubbed in it,” he snapped.

“Then why did you come? Surely you must have determined that if you came and you spoke to me like this, you would be told off.” He saw Utley in the mirror making for the door. “Utley? Will you stay for a moment?”

“Of course sir,” he supplied readily, standing near the door and leveling an impatient stare toward Thomas who clearly squirmed under the scrutiny.

“Keeping the old man about to make certain of something, Redge? Are you afraid of me?”

“Should I be?” he asked, outwardly calm. He was hiding the gentle stirrings of fear that could have marred his scent. He _was_ , actually, afraid of his cousin. Debt could do things to a person. All things to do with money changed a man for the worse, he thought. “Are you here for revenge?”

“Revenge?” he appeared almost insulted. “Should I have wished for revenge then I have already gained it. Look at yourself.”

Utley cleared his throat. “That’s quite enough.”

Thomas spat, “Servants don’t tell me what to do.”

“He will tell you what I permit him to tell you. He doesn’t work for you, Thomas, and he has all rights to tell you to go to the devil if he wishes.” He felt a gentle tremble begin inside him. “You used me. Your master got exactly what he deserved and I can only hope that in some way, the fates will see fit to give you the same courtesy.”

Thomas’s expression hardened into a cold disdain. “You’ve always been a little prick, Omega.”

“I never wish to see you again, Thomas. Whoever decided to invite you to my wedding was sorely mistaken in doing so.”

“And I suppose you think everything is going to be quite nice now with your new Alpha husband,” he sneered, approaching the back of Redge’s seat. “You think he’s going to be satisfied with you…how you are.”

Trust a Beta to really get to the heart of one’s insecurities, he thought sourly.

“You think he’s going to come home to you every night. That he’s going to share your bed. What happens when he goes out with his friends and you’re home alone without him? What happens when you stay up the whole of the night, staring at the ceiling, hoping he’ll come to you? What then? It’s in the contract but what is his incentive? Money? He already has his own. Weirwood? He doesn’t need your land. What stops him, Redge? Do you really think he’ll keep his word? When he sees how limited you really are. When he discovers all the dirty, filthy little things about you and grows weary of your needs, such as they are.”

“Get out of here,” he replied calmly, fighting the urge to scream at him. “Utley? Would you please escort Thomas off the grounds? Make certain he does not cross paths with too many people. I would not want them put off by his stink and his attire.”

“One day, Redge, you’re going to look at yourself and realize that nobody could ever live up to your nasty little fantasies. Not even yourself.” He shoved Utley’s hand off of his arm and stormed from the room, followed quickly by the butler whose steps were light and silent.

He let out a breath, disturbed to find it quaking and uncertain. He couldn’t let any of this stop him. What would Thomas have him do?

_Nothing. There is nothing Thomas can have now—not from me. He knows it, that is why he lashes out at me. He’s exhausted all of his resources and now the devil will have his due when it comes to that scheming Beta. He will get what he deserves one way or another._

He reached for his crutches which were leaning against his vanity and used them to ease his way up. His knees felt slightly weak but it was only the excitement, he thought. How he ever might gain the strength to stand before the vicar for so very long, he wasn’t certain. His method was not a graceful one, but he managed to make it to where his father was sitting, out of the way in a brightly-lit parlor.

He stood when Redge entered. “Oh, there you are. I thought Utley would be bringing you.”

“He’s escorting my cousin off the grounds.”

“Ah. Well…since we happened to get you two to your wedding day so quickly—you can see this plan has been in the works for a while—I didn’t think to invite anyone else from our side of the family…they are so…”

“Provincial?”

He gave another sigh. “That was another thought…I admit, it is very difficult for me to reconcile with the notion that we are not so far removed from them. Anyhow…the church is very nice…and the coach is ready to bring you. Are you warm enough?”

“If there is a blanket in the coach I will be.”

“I made certain of it. I told them that the sanctuary must be quite warm for you as well. Though you likely should be…well…”

“Have you been counting days?” he asked. “That’s well and good, I haven’t. I suppose I must have gone through a cycle when I was recovering…I don’t recall it.”

His father nodded, his eyes staring off at nothing. “For the best, admittedly. Come along. I’d hate to dally and have no time for the service. We’ve got to make it official before someone comes to their senses whether it be his Lordship or I.”

Redge rolled his eyes. He couldn’t imagine a scenario on Earth that would make the Alpha lord change his mind—that was, unless he found that his son was already philandering. That, he supposed, would make the gentle Viscount reconsider. With his father’s aid, he managed to climb into the vehicle and pull his blanket over his lap, comfortable and delighted to find a foot-warmer filled with hot coals on the floor. He had found that though much of his legs and ankles did not retain any feeling—his toes were rather susceptible to getting cold—an element he did not care for in the least. It didn’t much matter when it came to this day, he found, for he spent very little time in the cold outside and plenty of time inside where fires had been stoked to a steady roar for his personal comfort.

He tried to ignore the crowd that had come to watch him get married when he hobbled next to his father up the carpeted aisle, nearly tripping on a wrinkled bit as he had to practically drag his feet to propel forward. Whenever he paused to gather his bearings, he was aware that everyone was looking at him—staring at him and probably pitying him more and more with every passing second. By the time he was to the steps that led up to where Frank stood, he was winded and trembling and his heart dropped.

_I’m never going to be able to climb these._

“Oh drat…” he muttered, aware suddenly that surely those who sat in the front-most pews would hear.

A low, gruff Irish lilt sounded behind him. “Oi, for the luv o’ god. What sort o’ fool thought o’ this?” There was a shuffle and Redge turned his head to find a very masculine Omega at his side who appeared to be dressed well despite the ruggedness of his scarred face. “I’m gonna lift ye, lad. Jus’ ‘old yer sticks there.” Before he was even finished with saying it, he had easily lifted Redge up in gentle arms, his strength a thing of wonder for such a small creature, and climbed the steps, settling him down upon a long velvet-upholstered bench that was stationed before the vicar. “There. Takes care o’ that.”

“Th-thank you…” he tried as the man bowed lightly and took his crutches from him, stepping off to the side to stand close by. When Redge turned his attention to Frank, he was shocked to find him sitting at the other end of the velvet bench, close to him—close enough to reach out for his hands. “Frank…”

Before he could think of anything else, the vicar began and after that, everything seemed to blur together. All he could think about was how many eyes were over him and above that, the fact that Frank was looking at him too. His eyes were a gentle gray, overcast and dark. His scent was all around, filling Redge’s mind with images of a landscape blanketed by pine forest. Nervousness seemed to melt away into the shadows and soon he found that there was silence around him—the vicar had quit talking.

Frank’s mouth was ticked upward in bemusement. He whispered softly. “ _You’re supposed to say 'I do’ here._ ”

“Oh!” He chirped. “I do!”

Frank’s expression was warm and his scent began to fill with a heavy contentment as his eyes smiled. Frank’s own “I do” echoed and reverberated through Redge’s chest and he felt his heart fluttering at the thought that this really was the moment. He was bound to this Alpha. For better or worse, this was the Alpha who would have him.

_Who would touch him. Tonight._

He felt a wave of warmth come down to him and flash over his skin, causing him to suck in a hard breath. His whisper was quiet but he knew the vicar was aware of him even as he spoke. “ _Oh dear…_ ”

Frank’s small smile faded as his eyes flashed in recognition and he glanced meaningfully toward the crowd before he gave a pointed look to the vicar who nodded with understanding. It was about time this all got wrapped up. 

It was unfortunate that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the reception, he thought glumly. Though it happened to plenty of Omegas, he had been keen to meet particular elements of Franklin’s family and was rather peevish at the idea that he might miss them completely. In particular, he was most curious about the man’s mother who was sitting in the front row at current, her shrewd eyes taking in every inch of the scene before her and her gaze narrowing upon him in particular.

_She knows. Can she smell it? Is it so obvious already? It’s not yet hit me strongly but I can feel it coming. It won’t be overly quick in arriving but it will be violent, this one. I know that already. Is it the way I hold myself? Is it my face? Can she read me so easily?_

The slap of the Bible together was enough to jostle him from his thoughts and he nearly jumped when he felt Frank’s thumb on his jaw, the touch unexpected.

“May I kiss you, mate?”

“In-In front of…everyone?”

Frank sniffed a laugh. “That is normally how it’s done.”

“I…oh yes. I…suppose so.” He allowed himself to be drawn forward and leaned in, Frank’s breath over his lips causing his whole body to tighten suddenly before the simple brush of his mouth sent his mind into a wonderland. 

_Evermore. Everlasting. Evergreen._

The kiss was much different than Hardvan’s. A thousand bits of passion leaped upwards at every moment they touched and a symphony seemed to play in Redge’s mind. He couldn’t think to let the man go. Not when the scent of him was so inviting with images of vivid greens and fresh blues and the soaring wings of eagles rushing around him. He wasn’t in a church. He was in the wild. The great, vast wilderness that sang with hundreds of birds and roared with a myriad of rivers. It was not like a gentle promise—not like the Beta’s. It was a violent one. It was the promise of something so terribly powerful that Redge thought he must fear it—but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to fear. There was no fear left. If the fire had stolen one thing—it had stolen this. There was nothing left to lose.

Frank pulled away after a moment, his breath coming harder. “Redge…” he murmured softly. “I think we ought to get you home. Let Hugh take you.”

“Hugh?” he asked, breathless. He noted, somewhat alarmed, that Frank’s eyes were no longer sweet but severe—the overcast gray naught but thin rings around pupils blown.

The Irishman came to him then, holding out his crutches and aiding him in standing. “Can’ ye stand, lad? If yer legs won’ 'old ye, I’ll jus’ carry ye. A soldier, ye’ve been, dealin’ with us today, aye?”

He tried to bring himself up but toppled over back onto the velvet. “Please…Mr. Hugh…”

“Winwood.”

“Mr. Winwood…” he gave a shaky sigh again. “I…I think I need…”

“Say no more.” He lifted him as though he weighed nothing at all and took him to the side of the platform to one of the service exits, wandering through side hallways until he had emerged out into the gentle falling snow where the coach sat waiting, steam rising from the horses. It was incredible how easily this man held him and aided him inside the coach, pulling himself in after and yanking the door shut. He rubbed his hands together and then quickly covered them both with the wool blanket as neither of them were wearing their coats. “Agh, I can’t stand churches. A lot o’ bad memories.”

He was breathing heavy, leaning against the backrest of the coach’s bench and marveling at how familiar Hugh seemed to be to him. As though he’d known him for much longer than a mere few minutes. There was an energy to him that transcended logic. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’ be sorry, boy. Ye can’ 'elp it. Comes on fast when yer young.”

He smiled. “I meant your memories.”

“Oh!” His laugh was infectious, as most Omega laughs were, and Redge felt it bubble up inside him. They shared a bit of it, tapering off into giggles before Hugh spoke again. “Ye’ve a good mate. 'E’s a very good lad. I’ve known 'im 'is whole life.”

He nodded a bit in the dim of the coach while the horses began their journey back to the manor. “He’s very kind.”

“'E’s more than jus’ kind. 'E’s loyal. That’s important in a mate.”

“Forgive me…who…who are you?”

“Hugh Winwood,” he put out his hand brusquely, his grin lopsided but charming. “I’m the estate manager for Lord Ormsby. 'Is eldest married my son.”

Redge shook his hand but popped a brow severely. “A Lord’s eldest married his estate manager’s son?”

“Can’t 'elp love, can ye?” His grin was even wider. “I also 'ave to brag a bit—Murtagh’s a mite easy on the eyes. 'Ow could any Omega let 'im be? 'E’s a handsome blighter and he knows it.”

Redge was giggling again. He couldn’t help it. Hugh chatted with him a bit more before they reached the house, telling him a few lighthearted tales of Frank’s youth. When he opened up the coach door and carried him into the house, he was barking orders left and right, servants scurrying like mad to heed him and ready Redge’s room.

“Well,” Redge breathed as Hugh set him down on his feet and his crutches. “You are a force to be certain, sir.”

“Practice. Ye’ll be a force too when ye get te my age. Is there anythin’ I can get ye, boy?” He walked him slowly to the room he would share with Frank on the main level, watching him carefully as they made their way.

“N-No. I don’t think so…I will just wait then…here. For Frank?”

“'E’s gonna be jus’ a bit. 'E’s got te take care o’ the guests and make certain all 'is business is taken care of afore 'e comes to ye. After all, 'e won’t be leavin’ yer side for a good week or so. 'E’ll take care o’ ye.”

“Hugh?”

“Aye?”

He felt a squeeze in his gut as another flash of heat coursed through his body and sweat began to form on his brow. “Should I be worried about anything?” He pulled himself into the room and peered over the wide expanse of the bed, noting the restraints that were attached to the headboard. A throb of anxiety struck him.

Hugh followed his gaze and sniffed. “Ye’ve not got yer ma anymore, do ye, boy?”

“No.”

“And there ain’t been a soul te tell ye what to expect.” He waited through a bit of Redge’s silence and watched the Omega when he sank into the chair near the fireplace. “Ye’re gonna jus’ no’ worry about it. Nature knows what she does and she don’ do anything ye ain’t prepared for.”

“What if…” he gulped, his face hot as the first dribble of slick wet his drawers. “What if I’ve given it a lot of thought already? What if I…forgive me, we’ve only just met but you seem quite safe. I’m not sure why. Please…I’m embarrassing myself.”

“Are ye sayin’ ye’ve got expectations? That ye might find ye’re disappointed?” He smiled and shook his head a bit with his amusement. “Omegas…lord 'elp us. If ye want 'im te do somemat to ye—jus’ ask, boy. And if 'e says 'nay’ to ye, I’ll beat the devil out of 'im meself.”

A measure of relief found him with Hugh’s sincerity and he again turned his gaze toward the restraints on the bed. Most Omegas hated being tied down and Redge was certainly included in their number. He didn’t think himself maddened when he was heat—merely choosing to think himself a tad more _lewd_ than normal, though perhaps he was a _small bit_ ravenous. He was not out of his mind, surely, but his father had insisted he be held down—for his own safety. Now, theoretically, he would not require those. His Alpha should take care of all of that. “Do you think I should wait for him in the bed?”

Hugh gave a casual shake of his head. “Ye’ve got yer wits. There won’ be an Alpha close to ye save yer mate. I think ye might jus’ take some water and sit right where ye are. I’ll get that for ye. Is there anythin’ else I might be able to 'elp ya with, Omega? I’m afeared I ain’t the best at advice—I only e'er had an Alpha son and I’ve never been a right fancy little fop like yerself.”

“Hah.” He smiled and then felt it wash away from him as he caught the familiar scent of his Alpha. His mate. It was faint, as though he were smelling it over miles and miles. Slick dampened his rump even more and he made to stand, mindless that he couldn’t. “Mmgh!” he tried, as his ankles failed him and he tumbled back into the seat.

“Whoa there, boy, don’ lose yer mind o'er 'im so quick. He’s likely te let that sort o’ thing go to 'is head.” He moved to Redge’s side and drew his attention, bringing a grounding hand to his shoulder. It helped. It most especially helped when the scent was suddenly fierce and strong and he found Frank was standing in the doorway, his cravat already loosened and his hair mussed up. “Well it’s about time, ye bleedin’ sod. 'Ere’s a boy who’s droolin’ o'er ye and ye’ve got the audacity te show up after 'e’s already got 'is nice trousers all wet. A damned fool, you are!” He cackled a bit, leaving Redge’s side and giving Frank a good-natured slap on the chest before he came to the door, pulling it almost shut before he peeked back in and gave Redge a good wink. “Give the lad a hard time, boy. 'E’ll ne'er cross ye if 'e thinks ye might call 'im out.”

Frank’s cheeks were flushed and his eyes a deep black, ringed by steely gray. He was motionless for a few moments, appearing almost stupefied by Redge where he sat, breathing heavy in the chair near the hearth.

“F-Frank?” he asked softly.

He swallowed hard. “Yes, Redge?”

“I’m…nervous. I’m not…accustomed to touch. My parents were never overly affectionate and I’m not at all a man who’s known much of it at all. I think it’s why I crave it so terribly and yet…I am anxious of having it. I want you to touch me. I’ve thought about a great number of rather nasty little things you might do to me.”

Frank’s eyes widened a bit with interest and a little amount of shock. He cleared his throat, pulling at his loosened cravat until it swept from his throat and fluttered toward the floor. “Redge, what are you saying?”

He felt apprehension begin to well up and he tried to hide everything he was about to confess. It would spill out soon, he knew, but it didn’t have to spill out now. Not when Frank could still get away from him. Not when he could turn about and reject him before consummation. “I hardly know. I need to be out of these clothes. Straight away.” The time would come for him to ask for difficult things. But for now—it would be enough to have the most simple of them. He wanted to be taken. He wanted to be filled. He wanted to know what it felt like to be held in an Alpha’s arms and to take a man between his thighs. He wanted heat. He wanted possession. He wanted to feel a heartbeat beneath his hands and have breathless moments of naught but sweet pleasured ecstasy. He wanted to know what Omegas felt when they were panting and crying out with mindless emotion.

Frank came to him, looming over him while his big hands reached downward and one finger slid beneath Redge’s cravat, the smallest touch over his throat sending shocks through his muscles until his belly spasmed with need.

“Please… _Alpha…_ ” He couldn’t get up. It was vexing. Absolutely _infuriating_. He was trapped and he couldn’t help himself any longer. His hand was suddenly between his legs, cupping himself through his trousers. “If you do not take me to the bed, I swear to you I’ll do myself right here and you won’t have any damned say in it.” He’d barely finished the sentence before he was swept up and carried, laid out like some kind of ritual sacrifice over the counterpane before Frank began to quickly undress him. Halfway through his waistcoat and the man seemed to become overcome by something that must have been akin to shame and he stiffened, standing up straight with his hands rigid at his side.

“Omega…if you do not disrobe yourself, I fear I might tear your fine formals.”

“For the love of it all, Alpha, rip them off. I’ll get new.”

“Are—are you certain?”

“ _Frank!_ ”

And with that, rending filled his ears and he let loose a gentle sigh of relief as the cool air met his heated flesh.


	12. Chapter 12

From the way the Alpha was touching him, one would have thought Redge was made out of the most delicate of porcelain. He was naked, finally, and Frank’s hand was cupping him around the back of his neck, lifting him gently for another sparkling, transcendental kiss that had the peculiar effect of causing his entire body to writhe with lascivious frustrations. His ankles were sore and his legs were stiff but none of that seemed to matter when the heat was over him like it was. He was so desperately engrossed in the sound his mouth made when Frank eased his tongue between his lips and explored him with a tentative wonder.

_He’s never done this before._

An overwhelming surge of affection caused him to mewl and grip at Frank’s still-clothed shoulders. He was fully damp now and ravenous, his manhood hard and resting against his lower tummy. He could have begged the man to touch him there. As much as he liked to believe that he never lost his mind in these circumstances, he had to amend the assertion—he had never lost his mind before he had met Franklin Thornley.

Redge felt drunk on kisses and cried out into the Alpha’s mouth when he felt a large hand move across his chest, exploring him. Mapping him. Knowing him as an Alpha was meant to know his Omega. Of course, he felt like there were so many things he was supposed to be thinking about. How he wanted to be touched. All the filthy things he fantasized about in the yard when he was walking about alone and kicking at pebbles with his shoes. But here…now…there was no more than this pulsing need inside that had suddenly overtaken him with the haunting scent of _Alpha_ and _mate._

He opened his legs and let out a wanton cry as the hand over his chest moved down his ribs and belly. “ _Alpha! Ahhhhnnn!_ ”

“I’m sorry, Redge…” he replied. “I wish to be a dutiful lover but…I know not…”

“ _Please. Frank. All I wish for is touch. I need everything. All of you._ ”

Redge was kissed again and his body sang with joy as Frank discarded his waistcoat and shirt, pressing his warm chest down over him and holding him with a thrumming tenderness. His arms were strong and threaded with thick muscle from his years at sport and Redge felt every inch of him he could find, finally burying his hands in Frank’s short dark blonde hair, gripping him with his passion to keep him kissing. To keep him close.

There was nothing more titillating than this. He thought he could explode just from this alone if given enough time. He could sense that Frank was trying to remove the rest of his clothes with one hand and he could barely register what it meant for him. He was finally going to be overcome. He was finally going to have everything he had ever wished for.

 _But he’s never done this before,_ his mind replied, a tingling sensation of doubt creeping into his consciousness. What if it was terrible? What if it was nothing like Redge had dreamed it would be?

_Nonsense. Don’t think it. It’s instinct, after all._

“Frank,” he pleaded softly, “I want…I…” He cut himself off. It wouldn’t do to be making particular demands. Not now. Not the first time. He had an entire week to ask the complicated questions—to find out just what Frank’s boundaries were when it came down to the wire and Redge was unsatisfied.

The Alpha kissed him once more before managing to wrangle himself out of his trousers, his arousal potent in the musk of his scent. “Redge…I’m feeling very…” he breathed heavily, settling his head down to the pillows next to the Omega’s throat. “I’m feeling very _uncontrolled._ I’ve never felt like this before and I think I’m…I think I’m going to hurt you.”

He reached out, touching his mate’s shoulder with gentle fingertips and feeling the coolness of his flesh compared to Redge’s fever warmth. “I…I don’t mind. I trust you.”

Frank rolled away, standing and walking to the window where he looked outward at the road below, his forehead against the cold glass and fog spreading over the panes from his breath. The sudden emptiness that surrounded Redge from this action was unthinkable and he stared at the Alpha with a panic seeping from the far corners of his mind and infecting every inch of him with insidious darkness. He couldn’t survive if he was to be alone after all this. He couldn’t let Frank walk away from him.

He felt tears in his eyes begin to seep from the corners toward his ears and a lump was hard in his throat. “ _Frank…Alpha…I’m sorry. Whatever I said, I’m sorry. Please. I’ll do anything._ ”

The Alpha turned again toward him, his rut-glazed eyes like black pearls, shining in the dim gray winter light. “You don’t understand,” he replied, his voice wavering like eddies of water through reeds. “I did this. I’ve already hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you again.”

“You could never hurt me, Alpha,” he begged, feeling the cold fingers of terror slide around his heart. “All I need is touch. Your touch.” _Why are you doing this to me? Why can’t you come to me? Why have you left me like this? I cannot follow, Frank! I cannot convince you beyond words!_ He struggled to sit up, wincing at the pain in his legs. “I beg you, _mate_. I need you here with me. I want you here with me. I care not for whatever sins you believe you’ve committed. I care only for one thing and that is your presence. I will scream. I will struggle. There will be nothing on Earth that could stop me from coming for you. I am desperate for you. Confess what you will but do so after you have sated me.”

He regarded Redge with trepidation. “I am my father’s son. I hold his legacy. I tremble before your scent and your heat and I cannot will myself to consider your pleasure once I am close to my own…”

“Then cast it out of mind. I have opened my door to you, Alpha, will you not come in?”

When Frank did come to him, it was with a looming hunger that forced a tremble throughout Redge’s whole form. He blanketed Redge with his body, his large Alpha manhood resting heavy next to Redge’s own member on his tummy. It seemed so large that it would hardly fit inside him but he knew for certain he could take it. He had dreamed about men like this. He had fantasized about what they might do to him—stretching him open. Taking him sweetly or violently. Thrusting into him so hard his teeth clattered, forcing him to take the swelled knot at the base and then callously testing the seal of their bodies. He was ready for all of that. He wanted all of that. He wanted to be speared, violated, and broken. He wanted to know, finally, what it felt like for an Alpha to dominate him and open him and _own him._ More than this…more than this, he wanted to know that the seed emptied into his womb would take. That he would be bred like a proper little mate.

He nearly squealed when the Alpha handled his thighs, opening them and settling between them. His legs hurt badly from the tension he’d been holding and his earlier attempt to use their leverage to sit up but the feeling of his mate’s hips between his thighs was enough to erase all thought of them from the forefront of his mind. He was on his elbows now and could see the way Frank touched him, his thick length rubbing just slightly onto his own smaller one.

_My god, that’s good. I like that. I like watching that. I want to see that every day of my life from now on._

It was a handsome cock, he supposed. He expected nothing less from a man like Frank. Of course it was perfect. Nested by a brush of hair at its root, Redge’s eyes scanned upwards from it, taking in Frank’s toned belly and the dark-colored burn scars that spanned his chest, arms, and throat. The little bit that had marred his jaw and crept just ever so slightly to his face seemed inconsequential next to the wide swathes on the rest of him that the whole world didn’t get to see.

 _His pain must have been enormous. And yet still he thinks himself worthy of punishment—for something._ He’d been punished enough already, Redge decided, and he resolved, when this was all over and he had his mind back in working order, that he would tell the man such. There was no use in being dramatic about it all now, was there?

He’d been so busy studying his mate that he hadn’t even noticed that the man was further positioning himself until there was a rather large probe against the place he wanted it most. “Yes!” he squeaked, unconsciously dropping his head back and revealing his throat, the invitation clear. Though every Omega had their moments of apprehension about the task of mating and bonding, instinct was a clear winner here. He would have a bite. He would have a bond. He would have everything. “ _Nnngh!_ ” he groaned as he was breached, the sudden intrusion of impressive girth causing him to gasp. It wasn’t as though it was particularly difficult for the Alpha to do—with as much slick as there was, it was a decently easy slide—but with the sheer difference in size, the resistance was moderate. What struck him most by the very unexceptional stripping of his virginity was how little it did for his deep and abiding arousal. He still felt absolutely _wild_.

Of course, he’d given the Alpha _carte blanche_ to do so as he would; so the Alpha did. He pressed inside, opening Redge’s body up and filling him with most of his member, the rim of him tight against the swelled knot formed at the base of him. That part of him seemed absolutely _huge_ , and Redge did feel at least some stirring of anxiety at the notion of having to take it. Not only this, but he could take stock of all of this happening to him and still come to the realization that it was not nearly as stimulating as he had imagined it would be. Was this not supposed to be life-changing? Was this not supposed to be a breathless, torrid affair?

Frank hunched over him then, his teeth hard together and bared, his eyes shining like a mad dog. He growled, his breath noisy and feral. For all Redge had considered when he was fantasizing, he had never thought of an Alpha who was entirely _mad_ with lust.

_He warned me of this. He felt uncontrolled. He knew this would happen…he didn’t want to hurt me…_

Redge squealed suddenly as Frank gripped him hard and began to jerk back and forth. It was rough and fast and the Omega certainly wasn’t sure what to make of it. It _did_ hurt. He felt as though his body didn’t have quite enough room inside it to accommodate the large intrusion and so each and every thrust was like it was pushing and pulling and straining for space. His pitiful pained noises seemed to do nothing for Frank’s mindlessness had consumed him and he could not stop. Powerless against himself and his instinct, his fingers dug into Redge’s shoulder and thigh painfully while he desperately—savagely—took him. Fortunately, it did not last long at all.

“ _Rrrrrrrrrrragh!_ ” Frank growled loud against him, his teeth scraping over the sensitive flesh on the side of his neck.

_Oh please don’t. Please don’t. Not when you’re mad like this. Not when it’s hurt for me…_

Thankfully, Frank seemed to respond to Redge’s wordless plea, perhaps sensing it through scent. His movements were still jerky and strange but he pressed against Redge hard with his knot, as though testing him.

“ _Mmmgh!_ ” He clutched at Frank’s shoulders and then, inadvertently, slipped his hands to the man’s chest, pressing upwards with no small amount of force. “ _Alpha!_ ”

“ _Rrrrrrrrrrrgh!_ ” The sound which came from him was hardly human though he allowed himself to be pushed, dipping his head downward until he was face-to-face with Redge, their noses practically touching. “ _Rrrrrrrnh…_ ”

“Frank,” he tried, moaning when the huge cock inside him shifted and pressed against something unexpected. “ _Frank! Please…slower! Slower!_ ”

Much to his surprise, the request seemed to work. The Alpha’s movements were less stuttering, gliding together with a greater fluidity as he slowed and proceeded to rub his cheek against Redge’s, burying his face in the pillows beside his head again. He breathed deeply, his breath hot against the Omega’s throat as he adjusted his angle best he could.

A faint pleasure seemed to sparkle deep within him, beyond the ache, and he held his breath, hoping to gain more of that temptation which was just out of reach. He didn’t wish to seem demanding but all the same, he wondered at the harm of it. Frank was, at the very least, half out of his mind—how could such a man begrudge an Omega for seeking satisfaction? He pressed his face against the side of Frank’s head, his mouth finding the Alpha’s ear and nibbling softly. “ _Fra-ank! There! There! Don’t stop!_ ”

He didn’t stop. He couldn’t, Redge thought. Frank was far beyond stopping. He continued his steady thrusts, holding Redge with that same punishing grip as winking wisps of excitement and visceral joy began to build inside the Omega’s body, forming something just barely tangible. He could feel it. He could know it. It was deeper than the pleasure which formed when he touched himself in the night; when he gasped and panted into his pillows alone. This was far more—it came from somewhere completely different and stacked upon itself until it was close to toppling. The moment that it was close, however, he couldn’t know—he’d never felt this before. He could stop himself when it was his own hand but he couldn’t stop this. It wasn’t as though he were tumbling over a hill or cresting a wave—it was as though he were going to summit a mountain or crash into shore. What was about to happen to him, he realized as his heartbeat thundered in his chest, was going to be _catastrophic._

Frank felt it too. It was obvious that he did because just as Redge’s eyes were rolling back in his skull, the Alpha pushed forward _hard._ The Omega screamed, a burst inside him rendering him utterly senseless to the pain which radiated through him. Beyond pain there was an unforgiving light—an unqualified emotion and visceral stimulus that overtook him completely. He barely registered that his muscles were giving involuntarily spasms, squeezing down over his Alpha’s knot which was buried deep inside him. His fingers were clasping and unclasping in Frank’s hair, his hands holding the man’s face tightly to his neck where his teeth were still attached and there was a hard whine emitting from his lungs.

 _This_ was different. _This_ was unprecedented. _This_ was _mating._

Redge let out a soft sob when the Alpha relaxed his jaw, disengaging and giving tender licks over the wound.

“ _Frank?_ ” he whispered, tilting his head to nibble the man’s ear again, tingles of effervescent delight coming in waves over him. “ _Alpha?_ ”

It took him a long time to come back. He could only breathe heavily, gathering his wits as best he could. The sweet, doting Alpha who had held Redge’s hand as he lay in his bed recovering was just beneath the surface of this somewhat mindless beast of a man and he struggled hard to bridge the gap to sanity, lifting his head and shaking it, bringing his blood-stained lips together tight.

“My legs, Frank,” he tried, the pain nearly unbearable now that the linger of climax was faded. There was a glow about him that would not leave but it was not enough to erase the agony of his legs having been suspended around his lover’s hips. The weight of his own feet was too much for his strained ankles to bear. “I can’t…”

The Alpha ran his palms over the outside of Redge’s thighs and very carefully maneuvered him so that there were pillows that might prop his feet up on either side of his body. Locked together how they were, it was nigh impossible for him to be in a position now which would allow for less tension on his limbs otherwise and so this was the only true solution. He seemed to come back to himself in stages, his climax having cleared his mind of the Alpha possessiveness which had come over him so quickly at the first. His eyes were still glassy even as he took stock of everything he’d done, the bite that was seeping blood into the bedsheets and the pillowcases and the manner by which they were trapped together.

“Redge…I…”

He reached upward, gently brushing Frank’s lips with his thumb–bloodstained in the cool darkness of the room as the sun had hidden behind thick winter clouds and snow was just beginning to fall beyond the window panes. This silenced the befuddled and bewildered Alpha who appeared as though he were just waking from a particularly strenuous dream. He appeared as though he wished to say more but Redge’s thumb was still pressed to the middle of his lips, preventing him. Of course, the Omega wished to speak…to reassure him that he was in no way harmed. But he didn’t. Only for just a moment, as though he might be able to convey just the barest hint of his original discontent. That was enough. Frank could not suffer long. He was too noble an Alpha for that.

Redge’s voice was soft and throaty. “Thank you, Frank.”

He gently pulled the Omega’s hand away from his mouth, licking his lips as though just now discovering the presence of blood between them. “I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about.”

“I was…” he paused and Redge knew then that he would, as is taught to all young men like Frank Thornley, find the most diplomatic manner in which to characterize his actions, “…not myself.”

He was smiling. He could feel himself grinning upward as his ankles ached and the pain radiated up to his knees. That was very _noble_ of him, he thought, and not in the conventional sense, certainly.

“Does it hurt over-much? I can ring for a poultice.”

“No. It does not seem like it hurts at all. It did, of course, when it happened…but no more than normal, I suppose. My legs hurt very much. Though it is better now. Thank you.”

He sighed, staring down at where they were very much attached and Redge watched him examine himself where he was buried deep, his knot squeezed hard. The Alpha’s eyes roved over every inch of him, studying him with a dull wonderment. It wasn’t _as though_ he had never seen such a thing before–it _was_ that he’d never seen such a thing before. He was awash in _newness_. Redge was, without a doubt, the very first Omega the man had ever seen in the nude.

Redge felt himself flush, though he acknowledged that it was most likely that he was already flushed and this was just butter upon bacon. The mere idea that his mate had been a virgin at their coupling was something of a surprise and certainly had a queer effect on his sensibilities. It was novel. It was _interesting_. It made his stomach turn a little flip. Especially since he thought Frank to be quite handsome indeed.

He saw the man’s nose twitch and his head tick a bit to the side as he encountered Redge’s new emotion. His voice was low and the sound put more tingles through him. “Are you…are you near to ready for me again? An Omega’s endurance must be terribly difficult to handle for a body.”

“Forgive me. It is only that I so rarely am taken so seriously by an Alpha. Despite your wildness, you were at the very least attentive. You are also looking at me as though you may wish to devour me.”

He joked lightly, “You are very sweet, Omega, but I should seek to keep you about as long as I can without care to eat you. I…I have never…”

“I know. I can see it in your face. I thought for sure a man like you would have had his taste by now.”

“No.” He gazed seriously down at Redge’s face, his eyes adamant. “No, never. I am far too ridiculous for that sort of thing. As you should know by now, the only manner in which a man like me procures a mate is by…” he swallowed and looked away toward the window, a strangeness coming into his expression.

“By daring rescue,” Redge finished for him. He was smiling again, this time wider and with that odd effervescent frothing from somewhere inside him. It tickled at him where he couldn’t reach and he felt tears well in his eyes and thought they might have been from happiness.

_God, when was the last time that sort of thing happened to me?_

“Alpha?”

“Yes?” he turned his eyes back to Redge and there was moisture in them as well. An overwhelming of emotions, perhaps.

“Will you hold me? And will you take me again as soon as you can?”

He gave a little, breathy chuckle. “I am not yet even finished with the first. If you have not noticed, little one, I am very much still hard inside you.”

“As soon as is possible, Alpha. I wish for you again. Perhaps you are finished with your madness…perhaps it is only the first taste that is the strongest reaction. I do hope that is so for there are…well…”

“There are…?”

He fiddled with his fingers on his chest, picking at his well-trimmed nails. “There are…things.”

“Things?”

“Oh dash it all.” He gave a great sigh and stared up at the man still deep inside him. If he could not admit to his perversity now, when was there a more decent moment? “I…I wish for things that a boy ought not wish for. I have…had many thoughts of this sort.”

Frank, not disgusted in the least, seemed to lean forward, his head tilting in curiosity as though he were a dog given a strange command. His eyes were still black holes with rings of gray, glittering in the low white light.

“This is very difficult to say. I have oft been told that it is a very low thing for an Omega to think of intimacy and yet ever since I was young, I have had these thoughts. The church would insist that they be replaced by self-chastisement and prayer and yet I am still resistant to such remedies. I fear that I am to be forever marred now as a…well, a _pervert_.”

Frank blinked. Then he blinked again. His mouth opened just slightly as though he wished to say something and then he shut it again with another, third blink.

“You do not hate me, do you? I feel as though I must have trapped you. A man as noble and honest as you are having been only just bonded to me and here I am admitting that I am a rather dirty boy.”

Frank’s eyes widened at his words and again his mouth fell open, this time wider. “I-I…I-whuh-buh…” He cleared his throat. “Wh-what sort of…of _things_ have you considered? It seems to me as if boys who share in your sentiments might consider certain acts forbidden when, in fact, they might be completely natural in the course of intimacy…”

“Such as?”

“W-well…I’ve certainly held it to be true that placing one’s mouth upon a partner in any fashion one wishes is certainly not despicable by any means despite what the pious men might suggest…”

Redge hoped that Frank might not notice particularly that he had clearly turned the question around upon him in order to determine where his boundaries were set. “Is there any other inclusion?”

Frank did seem to notice then, his brows ticking downward in the middle. “You seem as though you might be looking for something in particular. If you wish for me to do something, Redge, you need only ask.”

He felt his mouth flatten a bit as he recalled Hugh suggesting much the same thing. “I do not wish for you to think me…”

“I could not think of you as anything but my mate, now. There is probably nothing you could suggest that would make me regret having bonded you.”

“Alpha?”

“Yes?”

“Will you next…take me from behind? Like you would an Omega who presents? Of course, I will have to lie down. But…I should like…well…”

“Out with it, little one, my patience is only so durable.”

He drew in a hard breath. “Will you p-pretend…pretend that you are…not…” He gave a little whine, unable to look at him in the eyes. “P-P-Pretend that you are not my mate?” He huffed a bit and then covered his face.

“Pretend? But…we are only just mated…”

“It isn’t…I…I do not know how to explain it. I do not want it to be like it was this time. But I want it to _feel_ like it was this time…I want to pretend that you are not my mate. But I want you to be Frank. And to be kind…while pretending to not be kind. Oh, it doesn’t make any sense! I can’t make it make sense!”

“I am feeling a little confused. I know I am misinterpreting you and I do not mean to be obtuse. It is sounding as though you prefer me…but not…me?”

“I want you. But I want it to feel as though it is not you…oh that sounds terrible. I cannot make it sound like it is in any way acceptable and I am serving only to insult you, I think.” He felt the knot inside him loosen a bit though Frank did not test the seal nor seek to withdraw. Still covering his face, he whined. “I have often thought during the nights I spent alone that it would be so _romantic_ to have been taken by an Alpha.”

Frank gently pulled his hands from his eyes and implored him. “By force?”

“Y-yes.”

“Of course, you cannot mean that.”

“I don’t mean that. I mean…when you took me in your feral rut just then…it was not at all pleasurable at the first. I don’t mean like that. I really mean that my thoughts were centered around a man who might know just how to pleasure me and that his taking me was, at the heart, an effort to please me despite that it often was far more arousing to think of him as some sort of brute out for his own pleasure instead.”

Frank stared down at him, seemingly speechless.

“Just…forget I said anything at all. I’ve embarrassed myself.”

The Alpha pulled gently at the knot then, and Redge was convinced the man would make for a hasty retreat from his bed but instead, when he was free and seed was spilling onto the counterpane along with a rush of slick, he took the Omega by the hips and turned him over. “Alright. Like this then?”

He gasped, gripping at the pillows and peering up over his shoulder at Frank’s serious expression. “I…you…you’ll not leave me?”

“Leave you? Gods, Omega…do you really think it would be so easy to lose me? I have absolutely no idea what you’re on about…but if it might make you happy, I’ll do my damnedest to try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double Update today because it's my birthday. :3


	13. Chapter 13

He was at a loss at first. His mind was still fogged up from rut and he was fairly certain he’d done something absolutely horrible to his mate. But Redge didn’t seem to focus at all on the terrible circumstances of their first time together and instead was very much involved in confessing to these “perverted” thoughts of his. Frank wondered if this was the extent of it but then, prudently perhaps, decided that it most certainly wasn’t. There was more that Redge Brackley wasn’t telling him and that, he thought was going to take a long time to parse. This boy was going to be far more interesting of a mate than Frank had ever dreamed. How he was going to handle him was another matter entirely.

All he had to figure right now was whatever he was doing in this bed at this very moment. He only had a vague notion of what Redge wished from him and after what he’d just put the boy through, he wasn’t at all certain that he wished to create any more of a beast inside him than whatever already resided there.

_I’ve known for a long time I held the legacy of my father within me. I remember him sitting with me when I was exhausted after my first rut– “Never allow yourself to spend more than a moment in a heated Omega’s presence. You will lose your mind. A regrettable family trait and one you must always beware…”_

He cringed as he peered down at the blood spots on the pillows and the seeping sanguine from the bite on Redge’s throat. He’d been well enough aware for that, at least, but even now he was not entirely himself. He could feel an odd strength pulsing through his muscles and his breath was stuttering and heavy. His blood felt as though it rushed through his veins and at every moment, it felt as though he could again lose control. Mating had helped immensely but every second he spent without his knot buried was another second the madness crept forward again.

“Face forward,” he asked, his voice too deep and too raspy for his own liking. Redge obeyed him, the simple act making his cock bounce with interest. “P-Put your um…put your hands to the front of you.”

“L-Like this?” Redge asked him, his voice meek and soft but loud in Frank’s ears as though he could not help but hear every word and every sound in the room all at once. Even the fire crackling in the hearth was too loud.

“Yes. Just like that.” He moved slowly and with purpose so as not to give himself permission to drop into mindlessness. Leaning down, he reached one hand under Redge’s arm and snaked to his face to roughly cover his mouth, taking control of the whole of his head while he gave a stifled cry. “Don’t scream,” he murmured, bringing his lips to the shell of the Omega’s ear. He could smell the absolute arousal that had spiced the boy’s scent—not a single drop of fear or apprehension, just pure and focused lust.

“ _Mmmm?_ ” he heard through a haze and he blinked, realizing suddenly that there was a soft growl emanating from his own throat.

He took in a steadying breath away from Redge’s ear to help clear his head before he came back to him, his voice half-growl. “I’m going to take you. I’m going to…to knot you.” Unsure of what else might suggest he was not _himself_ , he shook his head lightly. “I’m going to um…uh…”

There was a question in Redge’s scent though he was still quite fully invested.

Frank couldn’t help himself this time. He took in a full sniff at Redge’s temple and could barely recognize his own voice. “ _I’m going to fuck you, Omega. I’m going_ _breedyou. I’m going to make you_ _**mine**_ _._ ”

“ _Mmmmph…_ ”

It was difficult to follow what was happening to him. It was like a thick gray cloud came over him and he could hardly control his body. Articulation was out of the question when he became excited like this and he was left without words. His thick cock was pulsing with an unspent need and he had cradled it in the wet cleft of Redge’s ass. He was grinding his hips back and forth, his mouth and teeth teasing the Omega’s ear while he rubbed himself over and over against that perfect plush softness. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to spend all over his mate’s back and though the man might consider that quite acceptable in the heat of the moment, it was not good enough for the _Alpha_ inside Frank.

He needed to breed. He needed to sink inside his perfect mate and make absolutely certain that he took every chance he could to produce his heir. In the most basic, animal sense: he had to follow his instinct. Redge’s scent was everything he could have ever dreamed of and it drove him into his true, wild nature.

He knew he was making sounds. Vague animal growls and grunts and sighs. He was still holding onto Redge’s mouth but keeping his nose free so that he could breathe. Without thought, he lapped at the wound he’d made the boy’s throat and bumped the thick head of his cock against his rim. There was no thought beyond this. There was nothing beyond this. When he steadied himself with his thumb enough to breach his mate again, he was unmoved by the yelp he stifled with his hand. Nothing could move him now. Nothing could stop him.

Still, something tickled at the back of his mind. _Good. Good. Make it good._ He closed his eyes and pressed his nose hard under Redge’s ear, tipping the boy’s head forcefully so that he could have this access. He detected nothing out of place. Only potent arousal and the thrum of a young Omega’s heat.

Now that he had already taken his mate once, there was no rush in taking him a second time. Frank was far more gentle with his control this time though no slower. He moved more fluidly and bounced his mate back and forth with every snap of his hips. His sopping entrance made the act effortless and soon the Alpha was giving out soft, masculine gasps of pleasure against his ear. His role had been forgotten and there was nothing left that was man inside Frank Thornley. Only animal.

_Make it good_.

He couldn’t even fathom his own thoughts. Still, somehow, he eased his free hand beneath his mate and found his little cock, letting it slide wetly through this fingers as the boy breathed hard against his palm and let out long pleasured groans. Redge was holding Frank’s hand, pressing against his own face while the other remained balled in the pillows before him. He was speared open, marked in sweat, slick, and blood. Everything about him seemed so very primal—and Frank couldn’t help his Alpha pride.

“ _Rrrrrrrrrrrrggggh!_ ”

He was upon the precipice again. He was so close. Pressing his knot hard against Redge’s opening, he backed off a few times, easing him open wider with every push. He would make it in. He would get there. Redge could take him—he’d done so just a few minutes ago. He pressed until he could hear the boy crying out and could smell the slight tang of pain in his scent. Then he backed away, giving a few thrusts as an apology before he tried again, stroking his mate with his fingers so he wouldn’t lose any of his arousal between attempts. When it finally happened, he knew he was making sound again but couldn’t hear himself over the rush of euphoria that gripped him. He held his mate hard against him as he twitched inside him and felt him shudder with his own intense climax.

“ _Uhhhnnnn, uhhhnnn, uhhhhnnn…_ ” he heard from himself as clarity began to seep back into his mind. The fog was dissipating, leaving him to face the realities of his current situation. He couldn’t lay down as he would crush his mate and instead made the attempt to very gently move so that he might take Redge against him as he lay on his side. There was no pushback from the Omega toward that action and so he managed it slowly, taking his hand from his mate’s face and wiping the moisture from it on the sheets before he again held Redge close against his chest. He couldn’t speak. What could he say? If he wasn’t panting from exertion, he was absolutely mortified again by what he’d done.

The madness was not slaked by one good romp. That had been optimism at best. He was going to be a monster for the rest of their lives together and this was just another bit of proof that Frank was terrible—terrible for having taken away Redge’s choice at the first and terrible for having agreed to this wedding.

“My god,” he muttered into the Omega’s hair while the little one trembled in his arms. “I am so sorry, Redge. I’m so sorry…”

Redge’s hand reached down to where Frank still touched him between his thighs. “W-What? F-for what?” He was breathing heavily and when he touched Frank’s hand and brought it away from his groin, the Alpha noted that his fingers were very much sticky with the boy’s spend.

“I was…I was mad. Again. I couldn’t control myself. I am a sorry excuse for an Alpha…”

There was a pause that was a tad longer than Frank would have liked before the Omega’s response. “But this time was different…wasn’t it?”

“No…not particularly. Not from where I am. It is like this dense fog comes over me and I can’t control my actions. I got all the way to pretending that I wasn’t me and then it was like some kind of animal took control of my body… I really don’t want to hurt you, Redge. It terrifies me that I have.”

“But Alpha…”

“Yes?”

“I liked that time. I liked that time very much.”

Frank heard a faint buzzing in his ears. “It didn’t hurt?”

“The knotting was a little uncomfortable…but I liked even that. Oh please do not think me overly perverse when I tell you this…but I really would like to try more _things_ with you. Perhaps…before you go mad again, you shall take on another role.”

“Another role?”

“Yes…” his scent was rife with embarrassment.

“What sort of roles are you thinking?”

“Mmm…you do not think me a deviant for this, do you? I know it’s not right, but…”

Frank looked over his mate’s small shoulder at his hand, still coated in Redge’s pearly seed. His mate’s pleasure was paramount to him, was it not? He had caused such terrible pain, he might as well do everything he could to make the boy’s fantasies come alive. After all, he’d waited so long for a mate who might listen to this, who might humor him. It was the least he could do, wasn’t it? Even if it was a little silly or strange. He placed a gentle kiss into his hair and replied, “I do not think you a deviant. No moreso than the men who salivate at a woman’s bare ankles.”

“That is a little strange.”

“I would worship your bare wrist,” Frank stated clearly. “I cannot, in good conscience, begrudge a man for his worship of an ankle.”

“You…you would worship my wrist?”

“I worship all of you now. Every inch of you. I would spend the rest of my life tucked against you like this if I could. If that means that I am to play some sort of role for you…I suppose that is a small price for the blessing of your touch.”

Redge let out an amused little sigh and leaned his head back against Frank’s chest. “You know…it was very unfair of you to hide from me. I could smell you and I thought I was mad for my obsession with your scent. It is like the rush of spicy evergreens in the middle of a vast wilderness…I thought perhaps you might have been married or an old man. Then…it was you. I was halfway to worshiping a nameless scent…I was ready to give up on you…please forgive me for that…”

“Me? Forgive you?” Frank’s heart squeezed hard and he felt a constriction in his throat. “R-Redge…I have to confess something.”

“Is it whatever it is that you think you deserve punishment for? I forgive you. I do not have to know what it is.”

Frank let out a breath through his nose. “I cannot let myself off as easily as you can. I will never forgive myself for what I’ve done to you. I am to blame. For everything that’s happened to you.”

“That’s interesting. I don’t recall you having been in the room when I tripped over my own feet or the carpet or whatever it is that I tripped over when I bumped the table and set my house on fire.” He laughed at himself, the little chuckle serving only to drive Frank’s heart further into his stomach. “You simply cannot be to blame for anything that’s happened to me—”

“I made the Alphas stay away from you.”

Redge was quiet.

“I threatened them…I warned them. I wanted time. I wanted to be able to approach you myself but I was so cowardly that even the first letter sent to you was not of my own hand. My brother sent it to you. Those were not my words, Redge, though they were certainly everything I held in my heart. My brother knows me better than anyone and he knew that I could not hold you hostage like I had without coming to resent myself. I still resent myself for what I’ve done to you. Driving you to desperation…driving you to that Beta…to this! It was never supposed to be like this. It was never supposed to hurt you.”

Once he had begun, it had all spilled out of him and now he felt as though he were an empty shell, void somehow of his secrets. He knew that the silence that followed was just Redge chewing on what he had just blurted out, his mind rolling it around and searching it for everything it still didn’t explain.

Still, after those moments of reflection, Redge was soft-spoken and calm. His scent was mild. “I do not think that anyone such as yourself deserves resentment, Alpha. Even from yourself.”

“How can you say that? I’ve caused all of this.”

“You could not have caused all of this. A series of events is not all caused by one event plopped down in the middle. You could suggest that all of this was caused by my father falling in love with my mother and deciding they wished for children. My fate is my fate…and clearly our fates simply…intertwined.”

“I don’t believe in fate.”

“Alphas never believe in fate,” he supplied easily. “They always think they are the most prominent factor of their own lives. This is why you’ve presumed yourself the driving factor of mine. It is presumptuous and self-centered of you, Frank, but that’s all it is.” He held the arms that were around him tighter. “I wish that you would see yourself how I see you. Strong. Protective. Even noble. You’ve made me sad before…but who hasn’t made someone they’ve loved sad? Whatever it is you feel guilty for, I forgive you. I never needed to know what it was. I’ve already decided that I’m not giving up on you…and I feel very safe with you. I think that’s why I…I can share my _things_ with you. And be touched by you. I like that…I’ve never liked it before. But being touched by you is a rather good experience. So is this, if I might state so…”

“This?”

“Yes. Being attached to you like this. I think I like this part the best. It makes me feel very fulfilled and very close to you. You’re inside me…there is no closer for two people, is there?”

Frank smiled to himself, small and warm. “No. I don’t suppose there is.”

“Then…I think…no matter your role that you take on…I would like you to be Frank when we’re like this. I’d like you to be yourself. I don’t want to be so close with any other fantasy.”

“Do you wish for a drink, Omega?”

“Yes…please…if you can reach.”

With some effort, he managed to get a glass of water for his mate and helped him sip at it, setting it aside when he was finished. “Alright, little one. Since I think we are at the end of this knotting and might be on the verge of another…your next role for me?”

“You will not think it odd?”

“I do not know what it is to think anything of it yet.”

“What if…you were an emperor…with a harem?”

“I say.”

“And I was your favorite?”

Frank chuckled. “You _are_ my favorite. But I understand, I think.”

“It is not strange?”

“No.”

Redge gave a very long, relieved sigh and Frank was still laughing quietly to himself. “Why are you giggling at me, Alpha?”

“I swear I do not mean it. It is only that I have read some very bawdy fiction in my youth with this very thing as the subject.”

“Truly?”

“Oh yes. Perhaps…” He felt a light come on in his head and felt a gentle warmth spreading in his heart. “Well perhaps I’ll procure you a copy. I think if you truly wish for me to think you’re a dirty-minded boy, you ought to do your best to play to your strengths. You like your fantasies…and I think I might come to like your fantasies too.” He never would have said that a month prior. He never would have even considered such debauchery for anyone else. In fact, when he’d first seen the nasty bit of fiction, he’d cast it aside and chastised his friends for ever having had the indecency to show it to him. But for this boy—for this boy, he would do anything. Anything at all.

The swelling of his knot had receded a bit and he tested the seal, relishing Redge’s little gasp as he pulled himself free.

“Are you ready then, Omega? Mmm. As emperor, I surely have been gifted a good many of you fine specimens. But you are my most delicate flower. All petal pinks and softness, you are. I should especially like to put your little cock in my mouth.”

“Frank…”

“Who’s Frank?” he teased.

“Mmm, Alpha!”

“That’s what I like. I like my little concubines to cry out for me like that.” He eased Redge to his back and hovered over him again, feeling the grip of the fog beginning to come down over his mind as he conjured up words he’d found in the fiction he’d condemned. “I like all of them, writhing for me over satin, their bodies cushioned by pillows and bared to me or hidden by only the sheerest of silks. I like them all. But I like you the most.”

Redge was covering his face, his lips spread in a wide smile.

“Are you ready, Omega?” Frank asked him, pulling his hands away.

“Yes, Alpha. I’m ready.”


	14. Chapter 14

There was much sleeping during his heat but even more exertion. He hadn’t known how physically taxing the whole ordeal was going to be but with each and every knotting, it seemed his endurance was pushed far past its natural limit. It helped that he was bathed by Utley and sometimes by a serious young Beta named Geoffrey who was, in fact, Franklin’s valet. It was difficult to form comprehensive opinions when one was muddled by heat and tiredness but the two servants were keen to have him in fresh sheets after his baths and often he found that he was asleep for some time before Franklin was allowed to come to him again which he thought was probably by design since it seemed that the poor man was beset by a distressing disorder which prevented him from rational thought should he become overly close to an Omega in heat. Still, even with all the rest he got, he was tired to his very bones when the heat finally lifted from him and he slept long hours, waking every so often and never in distress as Franklin was always there with him, either snoozing pleasantly beside him or sitting upright and reading. At Redge’s waking, he would naturally come to soothe him with one hand or even set down his preoccupation in order to fully comfort him with a delicate embrace or massage to his sore muscles.

When, finally, his strength rallied, he was able to get dressed and venture down to breakfast one morning and take refuge in a warm parlor downstairs with a blanket over his legs as he sat on the settee, watching the snow fall out the wide window while a book lay forgotten in his lap. The house did not at all look as though just a week or so ago there had been a wedding and plenty of guests for the event. Most of them had gone home and only some were still milling about though none seemed keen to come bother him where he sat. In fact, that morning, his only visitor was an Omega of middling height who had the distinction of bearing a striking resemblance to Frank.

Redge smiled at him in welcome. “You must be Felix. You’re the eldest…am I right?”

His features were softer than his Alpha brother and he gave Redge a small bow. “I am. May I join you?”

“Of course. Please.”

Felix took a seat nearby to him and focused his gaze appreciatively on the snow outside. “London smells much better this time of year. Last year, I couldn’t go out even now…my nose was very sensitive.”

“Oh?”

He was smiling again and this time in remembrance of something. “Yes…it can happen that way. I hope Frank hasn’t been overly rough with you. He can be a real arse sometimes.”

Redge sputtered out a little laugh, unused to Omegas being so candid about him. “No…I don’t think so. No moreso than is usual, I suspect. He’s a very affectionate Alpha…you must love him very much.”

“Sometimes,” Felix told him blandly. “Most times, I find him utterly insufferable.”

Redge couldn’t help but let out another little giggle. “Is that why you helped him? He told me you were the one who wrote the letters to me. I suspect that if you really did think him awful, you wouldn’t have done something so kind for him.”

“You read those letters, they were not entirely kind.” Still, Felix was grinning. “I was furious at him for what he did to you. I’m still angry…but less so now. He doesn’t often get exactly what he wants and by that same hand of fate, he so rarely gets what he deserves. I suspect that now he’s gotten both though I’m absolutely sorry as hell you got mixed up in all of it.”

Redge sniffed. “Well…what’s done is done, I suppose. I think Frank is lovely. He’s very attentive.”

“He’d best be. I’ll kick him in the teeth if he isn’t. I swear to you,” he brandished a finger in the air, “if he’s not entirely devoted to you at every moment of every day, you just write to me and I’ll lock him in a closet and not let him out until he apologizes.”

“It must be so interesting to have siblings. It seems a strange dynamic.”

He peered off toward the snow again and in the white winter light, Redge caught sight of just a bit of a bondmark peeking up just over the man’s cravat. “It is odd. Frank and I have never seen eye-to-eye. He’s far too…conventional. He’s your average traditionalist…I hope you aren’t a secret suffragette. He might have a heart attack.”

“Mmm…” Redge replied softly. “I’m not…”

“He often thinks me a radical. Perhaps I am. But I came from this family so I don’t know how in the world he ended up the way he did. Someone at Cambridge probably wormed into his head.”

Redge could feel a cold nervousness seeping into his chest. “He’s…not so bad…”

“No, no. He’s not so bad. Maybe one day he’ll understand. But I won’t hold my breath.”

“Understand what?”

Before Redge’s question could be answered, there was movement at the archway and he gave a tiny gasp. A well-dressed and very handsome Alpha bowed low to him and came into the room to stand beside Felix. “Good morning, Mr. Thornley. I’m Murtagh Winwood. Pleased to meet you.”

Felix casually waved his hand toward the man. “My mate. I believe you spoke with his Oma—Hugh.”

“I…I did…” Murtagh was tall and dashing and far more rugged than Frank was despite his dress being relatively similar. A tad bit of growth on his cheeks made him appear shadowed almost and his muscular litheness made him appear as though a wild jungle cat ready to pounce. Redge could very well imagine this Alpha in his bed—a fantasy that would be staying right in the forefront of his mind for at least a few days.

Felix, it seemed, noticed his staring and caught his eye, giving him a knowing smirk which naturally made Redge suddenly realize the extent of his fumbling. Fortunately, the Omega saved him the trouble of stumbling over his words. “Murtagh and I are a little unconventional which, of course, makes Frank nervous. After all, what would people _say?_ It turns out that they don’t say anything at all, really.” He addressed his mate then, staring up at him appreciatively. “Darling, Murtagh, could you go to the druggist and fetch me more headache powder?”

The Alpha’s hand came and very gently—so gently that Redge could have become aroused right then just watching the exchange had he not just come away from a very sated heat—touched his temple. “Again, Felix?”

“I can feel it…” he breathed out, closing his eyes against the light. “It’s not as bad as last time but it’s coming…” When Murtagh had left then, giving Redge a small bow on his way out, Felix turned to him, his eyes sleepy. “Do you ever get headaches, Omega?”

“Sometimes. I do hate them when they come.”

“They are such an imposition to me…” Felix mused. “And most of the time they come whenever I think about Frank. He gives me such stress.”

“I don’t blame him…you know. For what happened. I had to tell him this as well.”

“Well of course you don’t blame him. He’s only got a little to do with all of it anyhow. Though had he not taken action, I fear the emotional damage would have matched just the same. You are such a strong little thing. You don’t have to be and yet you are merely by existing. You’ve always been that way, I gather.”

“Me? Strong?” Redge frowned incredulously. “I do not think so. I am, by all rights, just an Omega. There is nothing strong or special about me.” He wasn’t altogether sure about that statement but he was certain enough for his scent to portray that he was. He waited until Felix’s calm scrutiny for a few moments until there was another presence in the room. When Felix noticed, he stood, and gave his mother a small bow.

The Viscountess was small and her gown was a pretty purple color which matched the sensible and understated feathers which popped out of her coiffure on the side. Her gray eyes were soft and warm and reminded Redge very much of both Felix and Frank—she was clearly their mother though there was a spark in her which seemed to align better with Felix’s demeanor. She nodded to both of them and took Felix’s seat, causing him to relocate to another settee a little further from the window.

“Hmm,” she mused while she peered at him. “Pardon, dear, this is the first time I’ve gotten a very good look at you. You’re such a little darling and Frank has told me so much about you.”

“He has?”

Felix scoffed. “Just because you’re the only person he actually talks to.”

The Viscountess cast a glance over to her eldest son which made him lick his lips and turn his head, chastised only from that small look. Redge got the impression that should anyone else have tried it—perhaps even the Viscount—he would not have had the same reaction. When her attention was again upon Redge, she smiled. “You are so handsome. He tells me you like him to call you ‘Redge.’ What a lovely little nickname and so fitting for you. I regret only that I think you two haven’t had enough time to get to know each other all that well. Surely you’ve spent time together but there hasn’t been much opportunity for you to actually discover things about each other…after all, if Frank is anything like his father, there’s not much talking being done in the bedroom.”

“Mother…” Felix sighed.

“Don’t mind my prudish sons, at least my daughters aren’t so sensitive.”

Redge was smiling despite himself. “How many children do you have, my Lady?”

“If I do not count their mates, I have five. Two sons and three daughters. I do like to count mates as my children. They mean very much to me, though you are the first who has not been around the family for most of your life. Murtagh has grown up with us and so it was very easy to count him right along with the rest.”

“I think it would be have been very interesting to have grown up with a family so large. I was my mother’s only child for she passed not long after my birth. My father has always been a very busy man and I had not very many opportunities for friendship…it would have been very nice to have natural friends…or natural enemies. Either would have been preferable, I think.”

She grinned widely. “With so many children, there is a multitude of dynamics—Felix and Frank nearly never get along. Sullie isn’t close to Frank or Rose, and Jemma certainly doesn’t like Rose at all. In fact, it does seem to be sorted by birth order—if they were born right before or after each other, they don’t get along. Which is why _nearly_ everyone loves Felix and Jemma.”

“I don’t recall having been introduced to any of your daughters…” he frowned, flitting through his memories of the wedding. It was difficult, of course, since it felt like it had been months before despite only being a week or so.

“They are at home, incidentally, and I’m glad of it. All the goings-on here would have made them far too excited. Sometimes I think Nathan and I could use a little more sanity. Not that Felix or Frank make that any easier.” She eyed her eldest again who passed her a smug little smile. “But you, darling, are such a blessing. You and Frank share so many admirable qualities. You both are so quiet and reserved—so unlike most of us. I hope, surely, that the both of you will open up more with each other…perhaps there has been hope of that in the past week?”

Redge felt his face heat greatly. “Oh. Um…yes. I think so. He is a very good listener…when he is all there.”

“Oh dear. I suspected he inherited Nathan’s curious affliction. I hope it wasn’t overly burdensome. I found that my constitution is quite sturdy indeed and so I daresay I rather enjoyed his Lordship’s mindlessness…”

“Mother, I don’t think the boy has interest in your love life.”

She frowned at Felix, peevish before she turned back to Redge. “If you need anything, my darling, please only ask me. I will move heaven and earth for you if I can.” She stood then and beamed at him, the warmth of her smile like a ray of summer sunshine even as her scent reminded him of fresh rain from low gray clouds. After she left, Redge was still staring at the doorway through which she had gone when Felix spoke again, now laying on the settee with his head propped up on the cushioned arm.

“She really will move heaven and earth for you. We try not to ask, for we are slightly terrified of what she might actually do.”

“She’s very kind. You’re lucky to have her. You’re lucky to have your brother as well…even if sometimes it doesn’t feel very lucky. Do you…do you ever feel like you’ve been slighted some how? By how you presented?”

“Are you asking if I’m bitter? No. Not at all, actually. In fact, I find it very convenient indeed. Consider my mate, Murtagh, if you will. The poor man was head-over-heels for me even before I’d presented. I think he would have been driven to madness should I have become an Alpha.”

Redge felt his cheeks fill with blood as he imagined a clandestine romance—a romance between two _Alphas_. He’d never thought of such a thing before and it sent familiar shocks to his groin. “Oh dear. That could have been terrible…” _Or incredibly arousing._ “Do you think you would have perhaps continued on? In…in secret?”

Felix grinned at him, tilting his head to the side to face him fully. “Oh yes. We would have been very star-crossed but I think we would have managed it. There are so many things beyond our ken working in the background of the universe. Things just happened to work out well for Murtagh and I with no reason that they should. Which is why I can’t help but thank God for you, Omega.”

“How’s that?”

“You are what’s worked out for Frank. Despite all his mucking up and all my meddling. You really are a blessing. Every bit of you. I hope we can be a blessing to you much the same. We would never let you want. I hope you know that.”

He could feel the flush on his cheeks spreading as Frank appeared in the doorway, a tea tray in his hands.

Felix also noticed him. “Well, Frank, that’s a new look for you. Carrying in the tea?”

“Utley was about to bring it and I thought I’d save him the trip.”

“That is very like you…” Felix muttered, moving to get up. He bowed low to Redge. “Thank you for your patience with my family and I this morning, Omega. I hope that we were not overbearing at all. I’ll leave you now, as you’re clearly in good hands.”

“So soon, Felix?” Frank asked, moving into the room to set down the tray on the nearby table. He poured a cup and offered it to Redge who took it.

“I’ve got a headache coming on. I’ll be in my room laying down. Be sure to tell Murtagh where I’ve gone.”

“Alright,” Frank replied, offering sugar to Redge wordlessly and plopping two clumps of it into his cup at his nod. “We shall see you at supper if you’re feeling better by then.”

“Perhaps.” He took his leave then and Redge was left alone again with his mate. The warmth of him inviting and familiar. A wholly different experience than seeing a strange Alpha who interested him. He felt very comfortable with Frank. Very _close_ even though they were a few feet apart. “How are you feeling, mate?”

He smiled. “I’m feeling well. Your mother visited me. She is a very striking woman.”

“In more ways than one,” he agreed, taking his own tea black and sitting next to him. “I trust my brother was polite.”

“He was very polite.”

“Mmm.”

Redge reached for him, touching his arm and drawing his attention readily. “Would it be strange to tell you that I miss you? I have been but an hour away from you and I miss having every ounce of your attention upon me. You have been such a stabilizing force for me and I’m very grateful that you…oh…I should wait to thank you…when we are not at risk of having ourselves eavesdropped upon…”

Frank’s mouth pulled up on one side, revealing a very smug Alpha indeed. “Are you thanking me for entertaining you?”

His face was hot. In fact, his whole body was hot. “Yes. I am. Do you…do you remember having told me that you might find me some…some books?”

He blinked, his eyes shifting to the side to recall. “Oh…yes. I do seem to remember my having told you about a bawdy tale. It is not something for the eyes of a boy like you, you understand.”

His heart dropped. Felix’s warning about Frank’s _conservative_ nature came back to him and he looked down at his hands in his lap, swallowing while shame filled his throat.

“I’ve upset you.”

“It is only that…I had thought…”

“Such materials are…” he struggled, frowning. “…they could be harmful for young Omegas. For you to read them and take them to heart—they could skew your ideas about what is real and what is fantasy…”

Redge leaned backward, leveling a stare upon Frank that he knew was making the Alpha quite nervous, though the man dared not look him in the eyes. “You think I cannot tell fiction from reality? What sort of man do you take me for? When your brother mentioned that you were in some ways conservative, I should not have thought that you would decry _fiction_ to be harmful. Especially when you, yourself were very keen to play into my peculiar fantasies when you were set to benefit from them.” This time his face was hot and it was not pleasant.

Frank swallowed, his eyes wide and set rigidly upon a spot on the floor while he held his teacup in his hand.

“I don’t know how much I care for your morals, Mr. Thornley. Especially should you accept your own hypocrisy and reject my plain honesty in a position as vulnerable as mine. I thought you very kind to humor me how you have for you are the first and only person in my whole life who has known these things about me.” He felt tears wet his eyes and he tried to blink them away. “I have felt such shame about my own thoughts to now and here I thought you a kindred spirit. Am I so mistaken?”

“No!” Franklin set down his tea. “Please, Redge. Forgive me. It is only that I have been so taught…an Omega is prone to flights of fancy…their fantasies are visceral…the effect of novels and the like—”

“Do you think of me as unintelligent?”

“What?”

“Do you _really_ believe that I cannot tell the difference between reality and fiction? That I should have liked to have a strange man come to me in the night and take me with his hand over my mouth? That I should like to be a piece of property held in a harem for the dubious pleasure of some emperor who will one day die and proclaim that I should throw myself upon his pyre? Do you really think me stupid?”

“No! No, of course not!”

“Then what do you mean?”

“It is _obscene_ , that book.”

“I like obscene,” he replied calmly, staring at the man with all the passion within him. “I like those kinds of things. I like… _everything_ …that is obscene. I want to know it all. I want to know that it exists and that I am not alone in thinking about it. I want to know that there are others out there who dream up impossible scenarios and find them hideously arousing. I want to drown myself in lewd literature. I told you. I have feared for so long that I am a little pervert. But you let me shed my fear. And now I’m not sorry at all and I’m only frustrated at the shame I feel. The shame I have been _taught_ to feel. I don’t want to have that anymore. And if you’re going to make me feel it, Frank—”

“ _Don’t._ ” He put up his finger, his _Alpha_ voice clearly unintentional but effective all the same, stopping Redge with his mouth open, his body suddenly frozen. Frank, taken aback by his own voice, blinked, his scent filled with a blatant uncertainty. Though, in what was clearly a very _Frank_ thing to do, he composed himself before he spoke again. 

“I apologize. That was not intentional and I regret having caused you the discomfort of it.” He sighed heavily, aware then that Redge would be unable to speak for a time. “My intentions were not to insult you or suggest that you were in any way stupid or otherwise deficient. It is only that in my study at Cambridge, there was a professor that was well-versed in ethics and I now recognize from your argument against me that my own actions cannot, in good conscience, be considered in any way ethical…much less moral.” He picked up his tea again and gulped it until it was gone. “I could not stop myself in the moment and consider the implications of my actions. I was…frankly, out of my mind.” 

Frank cleared his throat. “That’s not to say…oh god. I’m tying myself in knots. That’s not to say that you are out of your mind now. It is only that you’ve not had the same education I’ve had…oh bollocks.” He put his fist to his forehead and closed his eyes tight. “ _Bloody hell_. _Fine_. I’ll get you the fucking book. I’m. Listen…I’m _sorry_. I don’t mean for you to be uncomfortable with me. Had I known that this was something you were passionate about outside your heat…I…oh…grace. I…who am I kidding? I would have ended up here no matter what.” A deep red was spreading from beneath his collar, lighting up around his burns over his jaw and spreading over his face. “Please don’t be angry with me, Redge. I can’t take it. I want you to be happy. That’s all I want. If that means that the whole of your library be filled with tales of drunken sailors in brothels across the seas well then that’s just fine.”

Redge’s mouth was unsticking. “ _F-f-f…_ ”

He stopped, seemingly aware of how much he had just spoken, his scent nervous and dismayed.

“ _F-rank._ D…Do shut up. For a moment.”

He nodded.

“My understanding of morality…” he sniffed, blinking away tears again though this time they were from the _voice_. “…is that every human being is a beginning and an end. That the truth of morality is in treating others’ freedom as paramount—and in that action alone can we gain freedom for ourselves. As long as you are not impeding the freedom of another, you are acting morally. Since fantasy and fiction involve no people aside from reader and writer, I cannot impede by passively consuming. Frank, understand me. Should I ever ask for something that you cannot give to me for I have asked you to impede upon your own freedom, you should tell me.”

He licked his lips, worrying one a little with his teeth.

“But I will not accept that only just because something is _obscene_ that it can in any fashion impede upon my freedom when I have chosen to see it. That is my will. My freedom. And by that respect, my own morality is intact. I have not harmed anyone living by reading a book. And that is the end of my piece. You told me that you could perhaps find a copy for me…will you?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation.

“Thank you. I appreciate that. For your mother told me only minutes ago that she would move heaven and earth for me. I would hate to ask her for such a thing.” He let that one sink in as he sipped his tea, relishing the moment it did when Frank shot his eyes straight to Redge’s face in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frank is learning a very important lesson. He gonna go get some porn.


	15. Chapter 15

He was knocking the snow off his boots as he arrived at the club that afternoon, absolutely galled by his own promise to his mate that he would somehow find this ridiculously offensive bit of trash. Frank couldn’t imagine why in the world anyone should want to cast their eyes over the sort of sordid acts a mind could conjure at its most depraved. Still, it was a wonder that he was certain he knew the answer to. His mate, after all, was a quiet sort of boy who kept to himself and was alone for much of his life. It was, perhaps, natural for a mind to wander when one was left alone for so long, though he’d not come across anything that would suggest that an Omega was prone to _this_ sort of fantasy. He’d known them to like novels, of course. But these were not novels--they were far too _erotic_ to be called such.

He found Ildry sitting near the fireplace with some tea in his hand while he read a letter to himself silently and contemplatively. The man tucked the letter away into his pocket at Frank’s approach and turned to him completely. “Ah...and here I’d thought you were going to look far worse. I’d come to visit you but your father told me that you were not to be disturbed. He made me think that you’d lost half your face or something. Here I come to find that you’re not so bad off at all when it comes to what’s really important.” He grinned lightly. “Though we both know what’s really important to you. How is your mate? Your wedding must have been quite small.”

“It was. I think they did not wish him to be embarrassed and so it was mostly family and those very dear to my parents. Ildry, I came not for pleasantries.”

“No?” he asked, his head tilted to the side. “For what else could you have come? Our pleasantries are clearly overdue.”

He sat heavily in one of the large wing-backed chairs that were specifically made for the Alpha lords who came and drank together. It fit him well though this particular one was clearly over-used due to its placement near to the hearth. “Well if pleasantries are what you were expecting, I suppose what I will ask for now will come as quite the shock. It is not such a large thing but from me, I think it will make you think I’ve gone mad.”

“Have you gone mad? I daresay, if you have, someone must owe me some money, for I swear I placed a bet saying that you would, one day, be committed.” He chuckled and sipped at his tea.

Frank only sighed. “You are going to drive me into Bedlam yourself. Remember, a few years ago we were all sat around in Rifton’s parlor and after we were all significantly pickled, someone produced a…” He paused, unsure of what to call it. “Well, it was a...uhm...a _novel_ of sorts.”

Ildry’s eyes narrowed at him, his expression that of a man who thought he might have remembered something but at the last moment thought it impossible that he was recalling correctly. “A novel.”

“Yes, a novel. It was not like a normal novel. It was _obscene_. If you recall, I distinctly remember having told you all, laughing as you were, that you were degenerates. In fact, I think you all probably conspired to bring the damned thing that night just so you could goad me and rile me up. You all knew what sort of trash that thing was and you certainly did your best to rub my nose right in it.”

Ildry’s mouth spread into an even wider grin and he chuckled to himself. “A fond memory, that is.”

“For you, I’m sure,” Frank replied flatly.

“I wasn’t entirely certain that you were going to remain friends with us for long after that. But here you are, still puttering along like a good chap. I suppose you must know that we did it because we thought it might loosen you up. It didn’t work, of course, but at the very least, you did humor us by staying.” Ildry sat across from him, dragging a chair over so he could face him. “Why bring it up? Is there something about it that has caught your imagination?”

“Not mine, no...or...I don’t know. Perhaps. You’re going to think me absolutely off my rocker.”

“You want it. The book.” Ildry studied him intently, staring into his eyes. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want it for some reason or another. Good god in heaven, I can’t believe I’ve seen the day. Frank Thornley wants to read a naughty book.” His grin was ten times larger now and his eyes sparkled. “I know what’s gotten into you, Frank. It’s the itch, isn’t it? You finally squeezed that big prick of yours into your thirsty little mate and now you know what all the fuss is about. The heat’s over and the little one doesn’t want you to touch him, is that it? I can’t say I’d blame him, you probably didn’t let him rest a moment…” He laughed excitedly. “Tell me, Frank...was it everything you thought or was it more?”

He stared at his friend for a few moments, his brows tight together. “I can see that coming here was a mistake.”

“No, please,” Ildry laughed, gulping down the rest of his tea and setting the cup down on a small table to the side. “You are so transparent, Frank, you can’t think I wouldn’t see what’s happened. You finally, _finally_ know what it’s all about. What all the ranting and raving is about. It’s the first step on a wild journey and you, being you, would never have guessed the sort of doors that it would open in you. An Alpha was _born_ to be a dominant, virile creature. Surely, you’ve discovered this.”

He blinked, moving to get up and finding himself rather annoyed when his friend put out a hand to stop him. “Ildry, I don’t wish to be taunted. If you have the book, please just send it to me.”

“I don’t, as a matter of fact. It wasn’t mine. But my dear Frank, this is tremendous. Have you found yourself loosened up at least a little? Might there be a chance you’ve found some sort of refuge in your mate? In matters of flesh?”

“Mr. Brackley is well suited to me and a proper young man. Please do not get any ideas about him or I when it comes to this. I have not changed in the least.” He wasn’t at all sure if that was actually the case. After all, he never would have thought himself capable of coming to his friends for a matter such as this. “I still think you’re all a lot of degenerates and you’ve not proven me wrong.”

Ildry’s brows knitted and his smile faded. “Well you must think lower of yourself now, then. You _did_ fuck him, didn’t you? If you think us all terrible for having the appetites we do, then you must think yourself a right brute as well.”

“Perhaps I do,” he lied. “Anyhow, I’m wasting my time here looking for something you don’t have. If you do know where to find it, you should tell me.”

“And why should I do that? If you’re such an upstanding gentleman, you shouldn’t even be looking for it. I shouldn’t, as a moral and upstanding man, allow you to debase yourself by finding it and potentially reading it.” He sniffed. “Obviously you don’t know what’s best for yourself if you’re going around trying to find something that might compromise your seat upon that high horse.” Ildry’s scent was clearly annoyed and his irritation was about to make Frank sneeze.

Frank took in a deep breath anyway and grumbled out, “I never should have asked. I’m not...listen, Ildry, it’s not for me. I need it as a favor I owe.”

“Well I don’t have it either way,” his friend replied, still cross. “You think us all beasts for having read it and then go about to procure it yourself under the guise of a favor. It really is appalling the sort of hypocrisy you’re capable of, Alpha.”

Frank groaned and then finally stood up. “I don’t really have the patience for this, Ildry. If I admit to you that I did fuck him and that I do know what all the fuss is about, and that I very much liked it, will you tell me who has it?”

His friend was still frowning into the fire. “I don’t know. Try Blackwell. I think that’s where the damned thing came from to begin with.”

“Blackwell?” he asked, confused. The stalwart Alpha, Honor Blackwell, was not a woman keen to find herself near to any of Frank’s friends and she was much too serious, he thought, to have an interest in bawdy novels. Not to mention, she was not present in Rifton’s parlor when said novel had been produced.

“Yes. Now why don’t you scurry off or something?”

He took that advice, pulling on his greatcoat before wandering out into the wet, snowy streets of London, feeling rather confused. Honor Blackwell was not the sort of woman he thought might have been interested in novels describing sexual frolicking. In fact, he often thought her a kindred spirit when it came to their more _traditionalist_ views. Though, admittedly, he’d never chatted with her at length over any of his own moral ideas, he had always been under the impression that a woman like her, with a refined taste and a slim amount of patience for male posturing, would mirror his ideals in many ways.

_Obviously I am very wrong._

He tucked his hands into his pockets and began to walk, knowing just where he was going though he had never been there before. It was a rare moment for anyone in his social circle to find themselves welcomed into the house of Viscount Griggsby whose daughter apparently held an interest in the _obscene_. The man was not known to be terribly outgoing with more than a few members of the ton and those he did interact with were very guarded about him. It was enough to make anyone wonder but then, the ton had a very short attention span despite its long memory, and Griggsby was not often in the papers. Neither, as a matter of course, was his only Alpha daughter.

The butler answered readily, a very old Beta gentleman who took his coat and led him into the parlor. Blackwell would see him, he was told, if only he would wait here. It turned out that he did not have to wait very long at all and when he turned around from his place by the window, she was striding into the room.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Thornley,” she greeted in her low feminine tone. She was just about his height with broad shoulders, a gentle jawline, and a pretty face. More pretty than handsome. Her jet black hair was swept attractively to the side in a thick braid which cascaded over her shoulder and ended somewhere about her waist. “Please, sit. I was just thinking about having a little snack and I haven’t had my tea yet. Would you join me?”

“Certainly,” he replied, sitting upon the settee while the other Alpha called for the tea.

“I don’t believe you’ve ever come to call before. It’s good to have you. I suppose you must be here about something, though I’m keen to keep up the pleasantries.”

“As a matter of fact, I am here about something, though I could not argue against prolonging my asking.” He could feel his cheeks become heated. It was one thing to ask about such an embarrassing item to someone he knew--it was entirely another to ask after it to a stranger, and not just a stranger, but a woman--Alpha or not.

“Hmm,” she allowed, forgoing any further questioning until after the tea had arrived. She poured him a cup and then sat down again with hers. “I sense this is a delicate matter. Though I can’t think of what in the world it would have to do with me.”

Frank cleared his throat, unsure how to begin. “Uhm...well...this is very difficult for me because you do not know me...though that I suppose could work in my favor. You see, a few years ago, I was at a gathering and there was a book produced. I do not remember who, in fact, produced it, but I have been told that it came from...well, from you.”

“A book?” she asked, leaning forward slightly as she sipped her tea.

“A... _naughty_ book.” He let it steep in the silence that stretched out after he said it and felt his heart drop into his bowels when all the Alpha did was stare at him, her eyes wide and her teacup frozen in the air above her saucer. After what seemed like a very long time, he unstuck his lips and made to speak again when she interrupted him.

“Might I inquire as to the nature of this gathering in which you saw the book?”

He floundered for a moment. “I...it was...just a night. No special event.”

“No Omegas present, no orgies happening?”

“N-No! Forgive me, Alpha, but I am not that kind of man.”

She nodded lightly. “Right. But you _are_ in search of this book, are you not?”

He sighed. “That is correct. I made a promise to someone that I might find it for him. I am not the sort who reneges on a promise, no matter how distasteful I find it.”

“Could you describe the premise of the story?”

“Alpha, please spare me the embarrassment...I could hardly describe it to my closest friend, much less a woman I hardly know. How many obscene novels could one person possibly have collected?”

She gave him a sardonic little grin that put a tingle of anxiety in his heart. “Is this a serious question? Because I think you would find that the answer is ‘ _a lot._ ’” She crossed her legs and sipped at her tea again. “If I’m to know what to search for, you’ll have to give me a premise...though we may have to do some extra consultation...I’ve not read them all, you see. I’m also going to have to have you swear to me right now that if I do this for you, you will never tell a soul what’s happened here. 

“I’m also going to have to punish whoever thought it would be a silly game to share one of the Library’s books with a crowd. That was awfully irresponsible.” She frowned, setting her tea down. “I’m surprised, of course, that you’ve come to me for something like this and I thought for a moment that I was going to have to deny everything. But you’re not the type of traditionalist to resort to subterfuge, are you? No...much too honorable, you. You understand, there are some who might ostracize me and plaster it all through the papers that I’ve got some skeletons in my closet.”

“I come for a favor, that is all. If it were to come out that you were some deviant librarian,” he added, “then I would certainly be at risk of exposure as your client...or...whatever I am. I should not wish to risk my own skin to expose anyone. And I certainly have not had time in the past few months to have plotted anything with any of those who might wish you harm. I promise you, Blackwell, your secret is very safe and I am a desperate man.”

“That is true that you’ve been busy.” She paused and her brows knitted. “How is he? The poor darling...he’s so beautiful…”

“He’s doing fine. His wounds are almost entirely healed...at least...those that one can see. I think he’s a very determined man and a very clever one at that. Don’t let his innocent-looking face fool you, he’s got everything well enough in hand.”

She let herself have a little grin. “You count among those things, I see. Well...if this is all you need from me, you’d best spit it out.”

Frank looked up at the ceiling for a moment and silently pled for strength before he sighed and focused his eyes about two feet over her shoulder. “It...was an Alpha emperor who was given Omegas as...slaves for...sex.”

“Pardon, Alpha, this may be something you don’t wish to hear, but that doesn’t narrow it down a whole hell of a lot.”

Contrary, Frank felt rather elated at the news. “You don’t say?”

“I do say. Why are you smiling?” She peered at him strangely.

“Well, you see, the favor I was asked was for a book rather like that one. It doesn’t have to be that one. It only has to be somewhat like it.”

She nodded with understanding. “I see. Does this friend of yours have any other requirements at all or is this the only one?”

“This is all...though...I don’t suppose you have any that depict…” He gulped, unsure if he could say it aloud for his embarrassment. He took a glance toward the door and then back to her. “Omegas being...uhm...oh dash it, I can’t say it. I find it very dreadful but he would very much appreciate it.”

“Alpha, you must know that I suspect your friend is fictitious and that this is all for you. You should know that your morality is not in question in this house. What you read has nothing to do with your ideals. You’d be shocked to know what the Omegas like to read.”

He put out his hand to her, startling her a bit. “That’s it! That’s what it is! You see...these really aren’t for me. They’re for…” he shook his head. “...my mate.”

Blackwell was quiet for a bit, considering him. “Oh...well...I suppose Mr. Brackley really is difficult to read. I never would have thought.”

“Indeed. It has taken me entirely by surprise that he has been so forthright with me and I don’t wish to betray his trust. Please tell me that you will never let him know that I told you. I know you live up to your name very well, Blackwell, and I should hope that you would do so for my sake as well as my mate’s.”

“Of course, Thornley. I would never betray your trust as long as you shall never betray mine. Now...you wait here and I will procure a copy that should do nicely for your little one. Perhaps something from the Omega’s point of view...”

“That would be lovely if at all possible.” He could have kicked himself, talking about this as though he were ordering a cake rather than remorseless obscenity. He waited for her only a short time before he was handed a rather nondescript looking book which was rather small with gilded edging to the pages. It was well-maintained and when he opened it toward the middle, he was pleased with the inking and print quality, surprised at the very least that it did not appear to have been bound by some ne’er-do-well in some dirty little print shop in the slums. In fact, it looked to be the work of a very discerning artisan.

Sliding it into the inner pocket of his coat, he shook Blackwell’s hand firmly at the door. “I thank you very much for this. I assume you’ll want it returned eventually.”

“Should he fall in love with it most ardently, Thornley, I will send you a bill.”

“Very good. I will...make sure not to remain a stranger to you, Blackwell...I am certain our paths may cross many more times in the future.”

She smiled warmly. “I hope so.”

With that business finished, he tapped down the steps and began his walk again, headed home. It was nearly early evening and the sky was darkening quickly, which perhaps was what precipitated the next great disaster in Frank Thornley’s life. It was a combination of factors, he would decide later, that had led to his distress, chief among them being the lack of control the lorry driver had over his animals and of course the blackness of the horses as they clattered down the icy street. For he was most of the way across the road when he was nearly run down by the barreling steeds, the edge of the lorry cart clipping him just so that he was knocked forward harshly and fell rather hard upon the ice.

Sore, but otherwise alright, he found himself helped to his feet by a somewhat questionable-looking Beta.

“I say, sir, that man near killed yeh!”

He wobbled a bit, shaken and startled and not a little disjointed as he rubbed at his elbows and arms. He would be rather bruised up the following morning, he thought. “I...that was…”

“You look a little pale, Alpha, per’aps a drink here? Come along, you’ve got to get your wits.” He pulled Frank by the arm of his coat toward a dim little tavern along the roadside and greeted the bartender as he went. When he sat Frank down, it was in an out-of-the-way corner table nearly hidden from all the other patrons, though there were at least two other men sitting within the booth.

“Uhm…” he tried, certain that about now, he was going to be robbed.

“Wait a second, you’re Frank Thornley!” the Beta smiled, his teeth yellowed and crooked. “Well fancy that! What are the chances I’d meet my new cousin on the street just near run down by a lorry?”

“Excuse me?” he asked, feeling a bit overcome.

“ _Olin! Get me cousin here a drink!_ ” the man yelled toward the barkeep. “Don’t you know,” he grinned as he pushed Frank toward the seat, “Little Redge is my very favorite cousin, which means you and I are gonna be very, _very_ close...”


	16. Chapter 16

It was late. Far too late. Frank had gone around mid afternoon and he was still gone and it was nearly one o’clock in the morning. The sky was starless and the moon was hidden behind a great wall of clouds. It had snowed just a little, though it had not stuck to the ground and there was a foreboding air tonight. Redge didn’t like it one bit. He had finally gotten everything he’d ever fantasized about and then he had gotten greedy. If only he had not asked Frank to fetch him some sordid novel. If only he had been content with what he knew he could have. An Alpha who would touch him in all the secret ways he had never been touched before was all he had thought he needed. But then...he wanted more. He wanted to know that he was not the only man in the world with these fantasies...that they were pervasive enough in society to leak from around the edges into bawdy tales written for boys like him.

Where might Frank have had to go for such a thing? Redge found it difficult to contemplate all the seedy places in London a man might have to explore in order to find a book like that. It certainly couldn’t be an easy thing to discover, could it? His imagination conjured dark alleyways and dirty snow-slushed streets with men wandering about in long coats and ragged top hats. He imagined prostitutes calling out to the well-dressed Frank and revealing soft parts of themselves as he passed by them.

Frank was not the sort of man to be tempted by lush Omegas on the streets. Frank was not the sort who found himself in places of the Capital gone to seed either. What if he had been robbed? What if he had been harmed?

Redge could feel his palms beginning to itch as his anxiety mounted. He got up from his seat in the parlor, struggling with his crutches with shaking hands. He moved to the window, peering out at the glowing gas lamps, their yellow-greenish hue forming halos in the light fog as steam misted upwards from the cobblestone.

_Where are you, Frank? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you stress. Are purposefully doing this? Is it to punish me?_

He blinked away the thought along with a few stray tears which had stemmed from its inception. Frank was not that sort of man. He was honorable. He was faithful. He was the sort of Alpha who rushed into burning houses and cared not for his own safety. He would not break a stipulation of his marriage contract so soon after having been wedded for something so simple. He was a good man. He had a good family. He was a good mate and a good Alpha.

_Something terrible has happened._

He could barely stand but then, he could barely sit. He couldn’t move, trembling by the window and peering out at the eerie lamplight with horror beginning to settle into his heart.

“Redge, darling?” It was Lady Ormsby. “No sign of Frank yet?”

He could hardly speak around the tension in his chest and the lump in his throat. “I have...I have begun to think that perhaps something has happened…”

“Perhaps it would be useful to know where he has gone,” she provided softly as she came to his side. “Then we shall know where to look.”

He sniffed, his panic beginning to overwhelm him. If the others thought there was something wrong and it was not just him--well then...surely it must mean that it is true. He found his legs wobbling severely and just as he thought he might collapse, there was a presence around him and he was held up gently by the Lord of the house.

The Alpha’s words were warm and calming. “Now, now, we shan’t get overly upset. Frank has done any number of stupid things in his youth, I can’t expect him to have gotten over it all just because he’s married. I imagine he’s simply been held up by something very simple. Still, it would be prudent to look for him.” Lord Ormsby very gently moved Redge back to the settee and settled him there, sitting with his wife across from Redge.

Lady Ormsby came to Redge then, kneeling down before him and taking his hand in hers while the Viscount took his crutches and leaned them where he could reach them if he needed. “Redge, sweeting, do you know where he’s gone?”

He wanted to say but at the same moment, he was struck by how awful he would sound should he reveal it. He did not so much mind Frank’s mother knowing--it seemed she was of a particular breed and Omegas really did know each other on the most fundamental level. She would likely understand but...the Viscount? Could he ever see Redge the same should he know of his perversions? Could they ever accept him into their house again should they know that he had sent Frank out into the dark London streets to find _obscene_ novels?

He couldn’t bear the idea. “I...I don’t know know where…”

“Come, think, darling. Had he said anything to you before he went out this afternoon? He must have had something he was doing. Was he calling upon a friend? Was he going shopping? Perhaps to the club?”

Redge stumbled over his words, tears forming again in his eyes. “I...I don’t...I can’t…”

The Alpha spoke again, his voice low and crooning as he came to sit beside him. “May I touch you, Omega?”

He nodded, knowing that it meant the man would bring his warm hand over the back of his neck. It would be a relief to lose everything to that touch, he thought, and he was right. Everything floated out of him, all his anxiety, everything misgiving. He lost control over his body, the tension in his muscles suddenly fleeing him as he felt boneless in the older Alpha’s arms. He was held tenderly by the Viscount and suddenly he felt his tears fall hot over his cheeks as he mumbled softly with his face against the man’s chest.

“I asked him to go.”

The Viscount murmured back to him. “Where did you ask him to go, Redge?”

“I...I asked him to find me something.”

“What did you ask for?”

“I cannot say.”

“Why not?”

“I will embarrass myself.”

Lady Ormsby squeezed his fingers. “Oh sweeting, you could never tell us anything that would make us look upon you differently. You’re our darling, don’t you know? I daresay, my flesh and blood children have told me things that I could promise you would be far more embarrassing. You’ve nothing to fear from us.”

Still, he hesitated, closing his eyes until the Viscount added, “I remember once when Frank was quite young...he had gone about one day without any knickers on and it had been a particularly hot day. The poor boy got himself a nasty bit of chaffing on his bits and had to admit it to me nearly in tears for Amelia here was off visiting and I was the only one about who noticed how deeply uncomfortable the poor boy was. It was so bad, he had to be powdered up and medicated for a week.”

Redge, though amused, could only groan lightly. “Oh...it is worse than that…”

Lady Ormsby chimed in again. “You know, darling, we all have embarrassing things that happen to us from time to time. But rarely do our confessions make such a large difference in how an evening will be decided by fate…”

He gritted his teeth and let out a small sob. “I asked for...I asked for a _naughty_ book.”

“A naughty book…” the Viscount mused, peering at his wife. “...and Frank left? I could have sworn I had one or two…”

The Viscountess frowned. “We’ve got more than one or two. There has to be at least several…”

“But Frank probably doesn’t know that...or at the very least, he doesn’t know where we might keep them...”

“Well, where did you get them? Don’t tell me he went to Blakeley’s...he wouldn’t even know what Blakeley’s was, would he? He’s a terrible prude, he couldn’t possibly know…”

Redge moaned. “I don’t deserve him. I don’t deserve his attentions…”

The Viscount shushed him. “Oh enough of all that. You deserve far better than my fool of a son, if I’m honest. It’s likely he’s gone to someone he might know rather than a place he’s unfamiliar with. I think we ought to ask Ildry. Come, Omega, you’re along for the ride here. We’ll not leave you to wallow. Amelia, tell Bert he’s needed. We’ll send him to Blakeley’s to inquire discreetly and perhaps to some of the more sordid places. If Hugh has any good ideas, we’d likely get his help as well.”

Redge was bundled up and sitting alongside his mother-in-law, her scent marked by a peculiar _sangfroid_ which shocked him. She seemed distinctly unworried and he supposed that it had much to do with how many children she already had and how much trouble they’d already been. She held his hand in hers, squeezing his fingers lightly whenever his scent became overly stressed so that it might be tempered by her.

It took not long at all to find themselves at the steps of Frank’s friend’s home and the Viscount went to call.

“Will it not be overly late? What if he is to wake the whole house?” Redge asked, peering out toward the darkened windows.

“Don’t fret, Redge. Nathan does not bother with propriety when it is his son’s welfare at stake. Ildry is a good friend of Frank’s and it’s possible you could find him right here.”

Though the statement comforted him for a short time, the Viscount returned with the news that it was false hope. Frank was not here and Ildry had pointed him toward another of their friends. They were to visit another young gentleman that night and still, they did not find him and discovered then that he had not even arrived at this gentleman’s home. Redge felt cold despite the warmth of the Alpha and of the warmer at his feet under the blanket that covered most of him.

“He is gone then…” he murmured. “Disappeared…”

“Not quite...there is another option if he’s not gone to Blakeley’s.” The Lord gave a meaningful glance toward his wife.

“You don’t think...you mean...Tris.”

“If there is anywhere else in the city where one finds a naughty book, Tris would know it. He’s got a good eye for those kinds of things and I’ve seen the sorts of items he collects.”

Redge had an image in his mind of whoever this _Tris_ was--a man peddling on a street corner his papers and his pulp. A man who perhaps was odd-looking and took unwary shoppers into the backroom of his small place of business and showed them all manner of terrible things. A macabre collection of fictions and devices that could be used and misused by their wielders. He felt himself grow even more nervous at the thought of finding a man who could find such things--who could have amassed a great array of them.

But when the coach stopped, he found himself peering out at a very normal-looking manor settled in an affluent area of the city. Lights were still burning in one of the downstairs rooms and the Viscount was keen to notice Redge looking.

“Should you like to come, little one? Tris might be a good acquaintance for you to have should you be interested in more fiction of the type you sought. And I’m certain, if he knows where Frank has gone, he will do anything he can to help. He’s a good friend.”

The Viscountess gave a soft little snort. “A _very_ good friend of your youth, I gather…”

A puzzling flush came to Ormsby’s cheeks and he shared a quirked brow with his wife. “You know me too well, my Lady. Come along, Redge.”

The night was cold and it had begun to snow a little bit again but it was warm inside the parlor where they were seated and it seemed that Ormsby’s friend was very much awake, and very much befuddled by their visitation so late. He sat and listened patiently to the Viscount’s tale of their misadventures in finding Frank and, when the story was over, he bade them to wait just a moment while he went to fetch something. He was gone just a little while and when he returned, it was with a small leather bound ledger which he had open and marked with one finger.

“Well, Nate,” he began familiarly, “It seems he was here. He spoke to my eldest...as she’s a very vocal proponent of the value of art, no matter how dubious. His friends might have sent him here. It appears as though he’s borrowed one of our copies and I can only assume that he walked off in the logical direction. It is not so large a chore to get from my home to yours on foot. If he did not make it home, I can only suppose he’s been somehow detained. If he’s got one of our materials on him, it would perhaps be prudent to ehmm... _not_ call for the authorities.”

“I will agree with you there,” he replied solemnly. “But it could be that we have no choice…”

“Perhaps a private detective. One who may be a little more discreet.”

“I will consider it...should it go so far. This little one has been beside himself over the matter...”

Tris--Viscount Griggsby, as Redge discovered--sighed through his nose. “It is not a burden you should bear, little one. Should something have happened to him, it was hardly something you could have foreseen. Now...next time you’d like to borrow something, you should write to me. I’ll have it delivered to you. Anything you’d like.”

He felt his face heat up significantly. “Pardon, Alpha...but I could not think to...it is...unseemly…”

He smiled, warm and kind. “You don’t know the half of it. Perhaps you ask for a call and I bring you a little selection. You think on that. This way you need not get your prudish mate in a tizzy over your taste.”

He could not have been more mortified and still he nodded and thanked the gentleman for his offer. Still, when they were finished, they were still no closer to finding Frank. They knew he was on foot and they knew which direction he had gone, but there were any number of things that could have happened to him between here and home.

They were back in the carriage when he felt himself shaking uncontrollably. “What are we going to do now?”

Ormsby replied very matter-of-factly. “I’ve told the driver to stop at every open pub from here to home and we’re going to ask about him.”

The Viscountess have a little puff of air from her nose. “Nathan, it’s nearly three in the morning…”

“We’ll be swift. He had to have come this way.”

As it turned out, Frank _had_ come that way. In fact, it was only just a little way down the street when Nathan pulled himself inside the coach and his scent was baffling and strange. He was looking down at his wife’s lap and his brow was knitted severely. Redge could not imagine what had brought upon the change in him and peered out the foggy glass to see the dubious facade of a tavern set back under a jutting eave. It was dingy and seedy and not at all a place where Frank likely should have stopped. The mere look of it set Redge on edge.

“What is it, Nathan?” Lady Ormsby asked, her fingers squeezing Redge’s.

“I could smell him. But no one would tell me he was there. No one at all claimed to have seen him. But I could smell him. I would know him anywhere. I would know his distress...he was there. I swear it. But not a soul would tell me that he had been. I don’t know what to do, Amelia...if I must call upon a detective, they must be very good, very fast, and very quiet.”

Her voice wavered in Redge’s ears as his vision seemed to close in from the sides.

“ _I suppose it is time we find one. We haven’t a moment to lose…_ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :0


	17. Chapter 17

Frank felt very, very drunk. This was strange, he thought, for he was fairly certain that he had in no way imbibed enough for this. He had allowed the Beta to get him a drink under the impression that he would somehow talk his way out of whatever was happening, but he never got the chance. His memory was shoddy in that regard and his body now felt tightly strung, as though he were a predator about to pounce upon some poor unsuspecting rabbit. He could feel his heart thundering in his chest and had to blink several times for him to realize that he was no longer in some dim, grimy pub. He was in an unfamiliar bedroom and he was laying upon his side, his groin howling with an ache that was now familiar.

He was knotted--his cock buried and his body stuck. His heart, though already beating madly in his chest, began to constrict and he felt himself give in to a hideous panic. This was not his room. This was not his mate. This was entirely out of the bounds of what Frank considered rational. He could barely control his limbs, pawing in his panic and pushing at the boy attached to him who was decidedly _not Redge_.

“Ouch! Ow! What are ye doin’, ye cad?” came the response, a yelp escaping the boy as Frank began to pull back, his knot still too big to be extracted.

The world was warbling and Frank thought it felt extraordinarily like he was underwater. He could scarce breathe properly and the air felt thick around him. He was unsure how much of it was his having been drugged and how much of it was from the effect of the Omega’s heat scent. His mouth wouldn’t function, the only thing he could manage was a pained and terrible growl, his teeth bared and his eyes rolling.

“Whoa, whoa!” the Omega tried, his back toward him and thus his power limited. “Calm yerself, big guy. Ye ‘aven’t got the mind for this quite yet. I’m no’ yer enemy. I promise.”

It wasn’t something Frank could think about or even begin to process and so he continued, in his panic, to pull back, struggling in the bed and tugging the Omega with him until he had tumbled onto the hard wooden floor, the Omega giving out a little yell as he was pulled with him and landed on top of him, still solidly stuck to his knot.

“Oi! I’m trapped on ye, ye great bastard!”

He struggled with the sheets and the Omega whose arms and legs tangled with his, slicked with sweat. He was still growling, his vocalizations sounding less human by the second. Despite the body still stuck to him, he rolled get up, holding the thrashing Omega tight to him as though he might try to walk _with_ him. It didn’t work and he stumbled, landing on the bed again in a heap while the unfamiliar heat scent whirled around him and clogged up all his sense. Unwillingly, his hips jerked, his overstimulated groin aching in protest as half-pain, half-pleasure jolted through his nerves.

_Let me go, let me go, let me go!_

He wriggled his hands between he and the boy and with no small amount of his strength, he began to pry the Omega off of him. He stopped when the boy screamed in pain and his frustration bloomed into angry red bursts before his eyes.

“ _Rrrrrrruuuugh! Auuurrrrrgggh!_ ” It was all he could manage and he rolled again, smushing the boy beneath him until he could lift himself up and grasp the nearest thing to destroy. It was the headboard. It cracked loudly as he split it in half with his hands and tossed it easily across the room as though it weighed no more than a book or a blotter.

“ _Oh God, someone!_ ” the boy screamed, clawing at the bedclothes, “ _Someone help me! Please!_ ” 

He was still screaming when Frank tried to stand again, his back slamming hard against the wooden wall, the whole room shaking from the impact and dust gently falling from the close wooden beams above. He was leaning heavily there when the door burst open and the Omega sobbed as he screamed, the older Alpha who had come to his rescue putting out his hands as though Frank were some wild animal.

_I am. I am. I am._

“Wait! Stop! Please!” came a voice from outside the door where soft yellow light flooded into the dim room. “Wait! Alpha, stop. I know him. Let me talk to him! Frank! Frank, please listen to me!”

At the first, he could not recognize the voice that came to his ears and panic still welled up in his chest, his eyes locked upon the Alpha who had come to stop him. Around that man came a figure he thought he recognized but the wavering of the world could not be trusted. The serious brow, the burn-scarred face, the tipping of the edge of his mouth as he put out a gloved hand.

“Frank…” the Beta soothed. “You’re alright. I’m here to help you. Something horrible has happened to you but it’s over now…”

The Omega shrieked. “ _Something horrible’s happened to ‘im?! Something horrible is happening to_ _ **me!**_ ”

“Shut up, you little tick,” the Beta spat. “It’s me, Frank. Please, you’ve no reason to trust me but believe me when I tell you I came to you as soon as I knew it was you. I caught the little slimy bastard and I came for you right away. Please. Please don’t panic. I’ve a good pot of tea just waiting for you at my home, does that sound pleasant? Just wait, Frank, just wait a few moments and we can get out of here. You and I.”

He was still breathing hard, his chest heaving and his mouth cottony. He wasn’t certain he could speak, but he could try. He blinked hard, shaking his head before he blinked again. His voice was rumbling and low and graveled. “ _Rrrrrr-Ar-r-vick..._ ” 

“That’s right. It’s me, that deplorable bastard you hate. I’m the one who found you. But beggars cannot be choosers and you are a beggar now, my friend.” He came to him, ignoring the whimpering Omega still attached to him. “I’ve got your clothes and everything Thomas robbed you of. I know not what his intentions were when he left you like this but whatever his plan, it has not come through how he wished. Deep breaths, Alpha, we’ll have you out of this mess soon.”

It took some doing but it really was only a matter of waiting and soon the Omega slid off of him, the moment coming where he fell to the floor and crumpled before he crawled away and wrapped himself in a sheet, his scent terrified and musty.

Arvick came to him and handed him a towel of dubious cleanliness. “We’ll get you a bath at my home. Let’s get you dressed enough to leave and I’ll have a doctor waiting to make sure you’re alright after whatever he drugged you with. I’ve got men already seeing to Thomas, so you won’t have to worry about him.”

“ _T...T…_ ”

“God, they’ve really got you in a state. Come on, Alpha.” He hurried him, helping him dress quickly while a small group had gathered in the hall wondering at the goings-on.

Frank still wasn’t certain where he was even after he’d left, determining only that somehow he was not where he had been when he’d first met the shady Beta at the pub nearby to Blackwell’s home. He didn’t recognize it and nor did he recognize the streets they were on, not that he could really pay attention. He was still covered in heat scent and now, having been deprived of an Omega to sit on his knot, he was beginning to feel wild again.

_Redge. I want Redge._

But would Redge want him? He reached for his face, rubbing over his eyes with his hand as if that act alone could bring back his sense. The rocking of the carriage was beginning to make him nauseous and he was very glad when it stopped and he was brought out to Arvick’s home. Stumbling a bit, he paused to lean against the base of a gas lamp and promptly vomited at the edge of the walk, unable to really appreciate that the Beta was beside him, his hand upon his back rubbing in small circles.

“You’re alright, Alpha. The doctor is already here. A cup of tea and some dry toast will do you good.”

He had to lean upon Arvick’s shoulders as he walked into the house and he was urged to climb the stairs to a bedroom where a hot bath was already waiting for him and a young Beta doctor sat on the edge of the bed. He was undressed by at least two servants and lowered into the bath which was scented like lavender and chamomile, the water and the petals which floated within it effectively neutralizing the heat which clung to his flesh. He rested his head back upon a towel that had been folded for that purpose along the edge of the bath and let the hot water soak into him and soothe the tension away from his muscles. He didn’t know what time it was. Likely early morning--dawn was still a few hours away when the days were short like they were.

“When you can speak, you can tell me what you remember,” the doctor told him, approaching the edge of the bath and encouraging him to open his eyes so that he might hold up a light to peer into them.

Arvick had poured him a cup of tea and he brought his hands out of the water to hold the cup, sipping it carefully and noting the ginger within it to calm his stomach. Arvick truly had thought of everything-- he was a man who knew how to get things done. He lingered, sipping his own cup and standing nearby to the tea tray.

Frank cleared his throat. “I was...I was nearly run down by a lorry. That’s all I remember. I remember having been helped up by a man but I...it’s funny...I can’t remember his face.”

“You were most assuredly drugged,” the doctor told him, “but there was more at play, if I’ve been told correctly.”

“They...I woke up and…” He couldn’t speak more. He had been overcome by his instinct. He hadn’t been able to stop himself. He had been _unfaithful_ and it was all because he was a fool. What sort of man was he? What sort of Alpha?

Arvick noted his distress. “What happened to you was unforgivable, Thornley, but you are not the man who did this to you. You did not take advantage of yourself. That you cannot control yourself when under the influence of heat is of no consequence here. You did not rape that boy.”

“But I…”

“Frank, listen to me,” Arvick told him, coming to edge of the bath, “A man paid that Omega to sleep with you. A man who wanted you hurt. Who wanted your mate hurt. He is Redge’s cousin, Thomas. His chaperone.”

“Chaperone…”

“If you did not recognize him, no one can blame you. He looks far different when he is not peacocking about the ton’s ballrooms. He’s an ugly sack of shit and with any luck, my men will have shanghaied him quite nicely by now.” He gulped down the rest of his tea and then poured himself another. “I know your type--the honorable type--would prefer me to go to the constable about a matter like this but I apologize. I couldn’t hold back my rage. He’ll be in the hold of a ship by this afternoon and you’ll not see him again, most like. He owed me too much money to have ever made it out of debtor’s prison anyhow. I should have had them arrest him long before this.”

“Arvick…how did you…?”

“How did I hear about you? Nevermind that. Know that I have many eyes in many places. If you do ever intentionally hurt your mate, Frank, the very same punishment could befall you as well…” he sighed heavily, “...but it won’t. Because you would never do anything to him to cause him pain. I know that about you. You’re a good man, Frank, and you’d best work on forgiving yourself right this instant for what’s happened to you. You did nothing.”

“I’ve been unfaithful.” He looked down into his tea at the bits of leaves at the bottom.

“Unfaithful my ass,” was the reply. “Alpha...I know that you’re not going to believe me when I tell you this and that my even saying it could have me laughed out of plenty of rooms but one day you will see the truth in my words so I will go ahead and tell you. You were _raped_. You cannot control yourself when you are subjected to the scent of heat and a man specifically took advantage of that and paid a whore to _rape you_. You are not to blame for what’s happened to you.”

Frank raised up a hand again and rubbed at his eyes, the scent of lavender and chamomile cleansing his nose. “I wish I could believe that.”

“You can believe that and you will. You know the truth in my words. He wished to hurt you and to hurt your mate. Do not let that happen. If you let that happen, he wins.” He set down his empty cup on the tea tray and rubbed at his eye--that which had been burned in the fire and thus was scarred around it with a dark patch of discoloration. The burn had affected the shape of it, leaving it half-shut and it glittered as though it watered often. “I have not been the luckiest of men but you and your mate have been chosen by the fates to have even shoddier luck than I. Do not let fate win...do not let evil men win. I have gotten to where I am through tenacity and wiles...you can still win through honesty and honor. Do it, Frank. Believe what I tell you and forgive yourself now. If you do not forgive yourself, then you cannot ask the boy to forgive you.”

He swallowed hard and then ducked his head under the water, resurfacing to rub his hair in an effort to wash away every hint of the other Omega’s scent. When he had cleared the water from his eyes again, he studied Arvick where he stood. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because I want Redge to be happy. He’s happy with you. He wanted you. For a long time before he even knew you. I was jealous of you...I still am. But he deserves to have something right and good in his life and that something that is right and good is his mate.”

He was quiet for a moment. “There was a book in my pocket…”

“ _The Lustful Turk,_ ” Arvick grinned. “It’s there. I took it from Thomas along with your cash and your watch. I tucked everything back together for you.”

“Thank God…” he sighed, resting his head on the towel again. “It’s for him…”

“I figured it was. If you’ve never read it, you should. Omegas dearly love that one.”

“All of them?”

“All of them that I’ve met. They are very adaptive little creatures. I suppose you were scandalized when he asked for it. You seem the type.” He was still grinning as he paid the doctor for his time. He came to the edge of the bed and sat upon it. “A man like you with a mate who likes to daydream about nasty little sexual adventures. You’re going to have your work cut out for you.”

“He asked me to pretend to be someone else once...a stranger…” He paused, chewing on his bottom lip as he stared unseeing toward the vanity. “It was not very pleasurable when it was real...for me…”

“Of course it isn’t,” Arvick provided easily, “Fantasy is far different from reality. He feels safe with you. I hope you might feel safe with him.”

“Yes…”

“Good. I’ll send word to him and your family that you’re safe here. Eat this toast and drink the rest of this tea. Get some rest. Your things will be left on the table here and I’ll have your clothes laundered. You’re a little too big for most of mine but we might make do if you have to borrow some.”

When he was finally left alone, he stared still at the vanity, his hand moving between his legs to cradle his sensitive organ. He trailed his fingers around the base of himself, still able to distinguish where his knot had inflated. He gently cleaned it with a cloth provided, seeking to rid himself of every trace of what happened to him. He scrubbed himself liberally and still every time he closed his eyes in the silence, he swore he could see the Omega’s terrified face. He could feel himself pulling--hear the scream of pain he’d caused. With gritted teeth, he pulled himself up out of the bath and stood on wobbling legs. He dried himself with a fluffy bath towel and, still wrapped within it, munched on some of the toast on the tea tray.

Outside was still dark and he moved to the window, peering out of it toward the barren street and the glow of the moon just showing past a few dark snow clouds which were sprinkling the landscape with a dusting of white. When he had finished the toast and the tea, and the world was no longer trailing or warbling, he climbed under the covers of the bed and listened to the logs crackling in the hearth while he fell asleep.

It was some hours later that he felt a warm hand on his chest beneath the covers and he woke with a start, confused and afraid again that he was to wake in that dingy little room with a stranger beside him. It took him a moment of panic to determine that though this room was unfamiliar, it was not that of a run-down bordello and the hand upon his chest was that of his sweet and unassuming little mate who had come to him in the early light of dawn.

“Frank?” his wavering, soft voice asked through the dim white light of morning.

“Redge…” He realized that he was gripping the boy’s wrist and he let go of him suddenly, reaching for him and pulling him to his chest, holding him tightly while he buried his nose in his hair.

“We were so worried about you, Alpha…” Redge told him, the sound muffled against his shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“I’m alright…” he replied, closing his eyes while emotion seemed to converge over him in a massive waterfall of pain. “I’m alright...I’m…” He couldn’t speak then and without anything left for him to say, he wept. Weak and weary, he wept as Redge moved to hold him, climbing beneath the covers and then pulling Frank to his own chest, holding him sweetly and silently while tears washed everything away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And you thought there wasn't gonna be a badass Beta in this story, didn't you? O ye of little faith.


	18. Chapter 18

It was cool and rainy when they debarked from the coach at Weirwood. It was not that Frank’s family did not have other homes, it was more that Frank’s father had thought it best for him to inspect what he now controlled as Redge’s mate. To this, Redge had no qualms as he was fond of Weirwood and he hoped that his mate would become so as well. It was a sprawling estate and boasted plenty of tenant farmers and artisans who were in no way disappointed by their often absent landlord and the soft manner of the estate manager who was left to handle affairs.

It had been only a week since they had found Frank at the home of the Beta, Hardvan, and the Alpha had been just slightly distant, choosing not to reveal the nature of whatever had happened that evening and merely producing the small book of erotic fiction and leaving it at that. Redge would have been lying should he have claimed that he was not intensely curious about what in the world could have made his normally bold and headstrong Alpha weep so strongly in his arms. He’d not had much of a chance to speak with Arvick but had, at least, been able to express his gratitude that the man would have treated Frank so kindly. It was a shock to see him and even the Beta it seemed was apprehensive about chatting over long.

Redge allowed himself to be swept down from the coach and placed delicately with his crutches in hand, his body singing at the touch of his Alpha. Frank’s scent had been odd at first but was now mostly back to normal though he did not much like to meet Redge’s eyes for too long and his touch in their bed had remained polite rather than intimate. He wondered, sometimes lingering on the thought as he was wont to do when the man might come back to rights.

“It’s still early in the day,” Redge noted softly. “If you’d like, Alpha, we could freshen up and still go to pay our visits to the tenants.”

Frank hummed softly and then responded as he clasped his hands behind his back and watched his mate work his labored steps over the gravel of the drive. “I think not. The journey has tired you. You will argue me but I can see it in your eyes. I think we ought to retire before supper. A nap might do us some good.”

Redge frowned a bit. “I am not tired. You should not attribute to me your own feelings. It is not polite.”

The side of Frank’s mouth was tipping up and he reached out to gently touch at the Omega’s elbow to guide him up the shallow step which led into the house. “Pardon my fumbling, husband...it is only that I had a sudden wish to have you alone with me and it was the only manner in which I thought to subtly come to that end.”

“You could have asked,” he provided before he was greeted by Mr. Wilton, their housekeeper, the Omega taller than average with keen eyes and even keener ears.

“Good afternoon,” the man greeted with a deep, formal bow. “I anticipated your arrival and both the master bedrooms have been prepared--”

“Oh, no need,” Redge told him, struggling to move his crutch away from where he’d caught it on the rug.

Frank leaned over and very gently helped him as not to set him off balance while he finished Redge’s thought. “We’ll only take one room if you please. Do not bother with the second.”

Wilton’s brows lifted in pleased surprise as he nodded. “Of course, sirs. I will take you upstairs then and leave you with Utley so that he might refresh you.”

Redge spoke again with a small smile. “I think my mate and I will retire until supper. If you might tell the staff, we would rather not be bothered. The journey has been much too long and my constitution is not what it used to be, you understand.”

A flash of genuine concern came over Wilton’s features and he swallowed lightly before he gave another sincere nod. “Of course, sir. As you wish.”

After having been left inside their room and the door finally shut, Redge cast a smirk over at his husband. “I thought I might spare your pride. It must be such a burden to be an Alpha and unable to claim a moment’s rest for the fear of weakness.”

“I do appreciate that,” Frank said, offering up a smile which just barely met his eyes. “If I do not lay in comfortable sheets with my warm mate in my arms for the rest of the day--I will simply expire…”

“Well for my sacrifice, I do require payment.”

This time his smile did meet his eyes and he let out a small chuckle. “I will rub your legs for you. You need not require it as payment, I shall do it for free.”

He put his bottom lip in his mouth. “I thought I might ask for something more intimate...if that was alright?”

The Alpha took in a short breath through his nose and then let it out with a small puff. “I um...alright. I think we can manage that.” He pulled his cravat until it was loose and then let it drop to the floor while he thought, his eyes caught on the carpet. “You don’t...you don’t happen to have that little book with you...do you?”

Redge shot him a sly grin. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Hmm,” the Alpha replied, further undressing until all that was left was his trousers. He reached for Redge, tugging at him until he could undress him as well and soon the Omega was naked and flushing, held up mostly by the arms of his mate. “Perhaps when we are tucked up in bed here, you will read to me an excerpt.” Frank pulled him as he sat on the edge of the mattress, settling him to sit on his lap.

With a steadying hand upon his mate’s scarred chest, he leaned forward to rub his lips over the scar which reached up over the man’s jaw. He murmured against his skin while he kissed and nuzzled. “You’re such a handsome Alpha.” He pressed his mouth against Frank’s temple and kept it there while he pulled in his scent, the vitality of _evergreen_ accented by openness and _freedom_. “There are so many things I have wished for in my life...but I think I have not wished for anything more than I have wished for you.”

Frank tilted his head until he could press the side of his nose against the side of Redge’s, their foreheads together and their breath mingled. “I believe that sentiment is mutual.”

“If you lay me down and fetch the book from my jacket pocket, I will read to you.”

Of course, the Alpha did as he was bade, pulling the counterpane and sheets away from the pillows before he settled Redge in among them. He rifled through the boy’s clothes and found the small book, regarding it with a placid sort of ambivalence before he handed it over and shed his trousers. As Redge found the place where he’d last left off, Frank eased into the bed next to him and pulled the covers over their legs, seeming to rethink his position at the last moment.

“Redge?”

“Yes?”

“May I place you?”

“Of course.”

He was lifted then and settled between Frank’s powerful thighs, acutely aware of what was nestled comfortably against his rump as he leaned back into his mate’s embrace. Warm and at ease, he felt blood begin to suffuse his cheeks as he opened his book.

“ _He now lay for some time quiet in my arms, to all appearance from his various exclamations swimming in a sea of pleasure, sucking my breast and neck, until they became quite sore..._ ”

Redge became suddenly aware, then, of Frank’s hand resting upon his thigh, big and hot and distracting. The Alpha had placed it there meaningfully and certainly it was a tactic Redge could recognize.

“ _...all the time I lay gasping and stretched beyond bearing. Soon again I felt the commencement of his dreadful thrusts--at first, to be sure, they were not quite so fierce; but as his feelings were excited by enjoyment, so did the fury of his movements increase--_ Eep!” The soft mouse-squeak from his throat was prompted by the motion of Frank’s hand as it moved from Redge’s thigh to the junction between, cupping him gently while he felt the rise of the Alpha at his rear, prodding with every pulse. He grinned laying his head back upon his husband’s chest. He read on, intensely aware of the hand between his thighs and then, when he had come upon another erotic scene, he swallowed a gasp as Frank’s fingers caressed him. “ _‘O-Of what consideration can it be to Allah whether this part is opened or unopened by man?’ and to make me understand the part he meant, he forced his hand between my thighs where his fiery touches left me in no doubt as to the part he alluded to. He then was proceeding to place me in a situation convenient to satisfy his desires, but because I resisted his attempts, he flew upon me like a tiger, forcibly turned me on my back and divided my thighs; indeed, I found resistance of no avail._ ” 

He had to give pause as he was stroked between Frank’s large fingers, the sparks of pleasure causing him to hitch his breath. He wanted to reach down and touch his Alpha’s hand, guide him in all the ways he wished to be touched, but he refrained if only to prolong his anticipation of those chance caresses. Leaning backward harder, he arched his back and was rewarded by Frank’s other hand reaching to brush the pads of his fingertips over Redge’s bare chest, just barely toying with the outer edges of his nipples.

“Are you to read on?” the Alpha teased.

“Mmmgh,” he tried. “I am too easily riled by you…” When he huffed and turned a bit to see Frank’s face, he was surprised to find the man with melancholy in his eyes which had not been betrayed by his scent. “Frank? You look vexed...is there something the matter?” Of course there was--there had been for a short time now, Redge knew. It was only that now he felt he might be close enough to reach it should the man not shrink back at the prod.

At first, it seemed as though the Alpha may not wish to speak, his breath hard in through his nose and his eyes seeking to avoid Redge altogether, but when the silence stretched on between them, he did eventually relent.

“I have a fear that you might not forgive me...though Hardvan insisted that I was not to blame...I have committed a sin against you. Against us.”

Redge knew better than to speak, choosing only to rest his small hand upon Frank’s thigh and lean backward again to press as much of their bodies together as possible. To feel Frank’s heartbeat against his back.

“That night...when you found me there...he had rescued me. I had been drugged and taken to a room with an Omega.” He swallowed, his hand unmoving though still upon Redge’s nethers. “He was in heat and I was unfaithful to you.”

It was as though someone had thrown a live, struggling fish inside his guts and it squirmed there while a pressure formed in his chest and throat. He wanted to cry out with this anguish and weep with the injustice of it all but not for him. For really, despite what Frank may have thought, it wasn’t about Redge at all. It wasn’t about their contract or his sensibilities. It was about Frank. It was about the control a man had over his body and what happened to him and that had been most definitely violated.

“ _Oh, Frank…_ ” he sobbed, his hand moving up until he could feel his mate’s face against his palm. He turned his head to press his ear against Frank’s body and he closed his eyes. “ _I’m so sorry…_ ”

“It is not for you to be sorry about, little one. It was nothing you did.”

“I sent you out…”

“It was nothing you did. Remember now, how you told me that fate simply plotted for us and that I, despite all I did to you, was not to blame for what happened to you? I had not understood the sentiment until now. There was nothing you could have done. It was not something you could have known.” He snaked his large arm around the Omega’s middle and squeezed gently. “Should I, one day, be at a market buying flowers for you and end up somehow pushing daisies...you should know that I would never blame you or my love for you for anything that happened to me. And I don’t regret finding you that book. I don’t regret anything about what I do for you.”

“How can I help you, Alpha?”

“You already have. It is merely something that has happened to me. I will remember it from time to time but I will never allow it to control me. You’ve taught me that lesson as well. You grieve for yourself but you carry on and so will I. Your power inspires me...your resolve…in fact...I’ve even considered your less noble methods which seem as though they could be useful to cope.”

Redge blinked away his tears. “Less noble…?”

“I thought, perhaps, if you would; I might pretend with you.”

There was a short pause between them before Redge lifted a brow and sniffed, wiping at his face. “Pretend with me?”

“Yes...you see I keep thinking of what it might feel like if _you_ were the boy who took advantage of me. How it might feel to...to be in love with someone who did such a heinous thing to me. Having choice stripped away from me but by someone I might have feelings for…” His face was reddened and his scent filled with a secret shame. “It sounds very stupid now that I say it aloud.”

“It is not stupid. There is no fantasy that is stupid. I...I think most times when I imagine myself having been taken by force, it is a scene which allows me a sort of freedom. Now...I do not have the same force as you have...perhaps you shall be my Alpha pleasure slave…”

“If that is what pleases you.”

He felt an odd elation in his chest and still, trepidation as well. “Are you...are you certain, Alpha?”

Frank’s lips came to his bondmark and he nibbled softly, the touch sending blood careening into the Omega’s groin. “I’m certain.”

“Mmm...then touch me, Alpha. I want to feel your hand over me.” He tossed the book to the floor and pushed at Frank’s arm, encouraging his touch over the most intimate part of him. It was exhilarating to know that he was the master now, controlling ever bit of this big creature behind him even as he could not manipulate him physically. Of course this could be nothing like what had happened to him--it was very likely that the man didn’t remember most of that. “Do you feel me, Alpha? Hard between your fingers?” He almost couldn’t recognize his own voice as he spoke, his tone deeper and most masculine now. “I want you to be on your knees before me. I want you to put me in your mouth like an obedient Alpha.” He was lifted and Frank set him among the pillows again, pulling down the sheets until he could curl down to place his mouth on him.

Light filled him and his heart soared as pleasure coursed through his veins like spreading fire. Frank’s tongue explored him, dipping and searching as he swallowed him down hungrily, the sound of his mouth disturbingly erotic between Redge’s subtle gasps of euphoria.

“Yes...yes...uhn, yes…” he sighed, his fingers delving into Frank’s hair to encourage him. He didn’t feel like himself. His fantasy crashed over him and he was who he wished to be in the moment then--a man of dubious morals. A man who held an Alpha at his beck and call--to take advantage of as he wished. “Sh-should you like me to call you dirty, Alpha?”

Frank paused for a second as though he were thinking it over and then gave a short nod before he continued his lewd onslaught, his hands coming to Redge’s thighs to press them open wider.

“Oh, you big, dirty _whore_ ,” he sighed, his cheeks florid as the word left his lips. “I want your scent all over me when we’re finished. I want you to paint me with your come.”

“ _Mngh…_ ”

“Turn me over, Alpha.” He felt breathless. “Do it. Now!” He waited and when Frank had done it, he pulled pillows to his chest, gripping them tight. “Open me. Lick me there, Alpha. Make me wet for you.”

There was not a single shred of hesitation. Frank buried his face against him, his tongue laving against the tight cove. He hummed and made soft sounds of submission low in his throat as he kissed and lapped and allowed his saliva to dribble until it was spilling over the soft loose flesh of Redge’s sack.

“ _Uhn...I want it._ I don’t want you to spend inside me. I don’t want to be bred by a worthless cur.”

“ _Mmngh…_ ” Frank replied, the scent of his lust shadowing the room. It was sharp and tangy and overwhelming.

“P-Put it against me. I want to feel it.”

The Alpha did as he was bade, pressing the bottom of his cock into the cleft he had wetted liberally with his tongue. He wiped at his mouth with his hand, his eyes half-lidded and his gaze clouded with need. He rubbed back and forth, pressing hard into the giving flesh, rutting with sort of patient desperation that was driving the Omega wild. He was panting, his chest heaving and his skin shining with a light moisture. No Alpha could have been more handsome, Redge thought as he peered at him over his shoulder.

“It...It might be alright,” he huffed, “...if you might put inside me just the tip of that big prick. Just a taste. I should like to tease you. To show you just what you’re missing when you touch me. You know, my husband does not have quite the cock. In fact, I feel as though I should seem a virgin to you, Alpha...for his is so small and yours is so big.”

Frank gave pause for a moment, staring down at him in a slight befuddlement as he took in the character Redge was playing. When he was satisfied with how the narrative had evolved, he pressed the side of his thumb down over the top of himself to slide into the Omega’s body, opening him just enough to fit the head of him inside. His voice was deep and rasping, hungry with lust. “Like this? _M-Master…?_ ”

_Oh that’s nice. I like that. A big, masculine voice calling me his master… I do hope this fantasy grows on him for it is growing on me quite splendidly. I want him to fill me...that is the only catch here...perhaps next time I will let the slave have his master...but this time he must please me in obedience…_

“Yes...yes just like that. No further...now take it out.” He waited until Frank had complied. “Rub it against me again and then let me tease you further...do it like this until you come all over me. I want to feel it on my back.”

Frank didn’t reply verbally but did as he was asked, rotating between the two acts and never delving deeper than he had upon the first penetration. He was a very, very good slave it seemed and Redge relaxed into the pillows, letting each sensation wash over him in turns until he could feel himself fluttering for each new breach, his stomach filling with anticipation and his cock twitching for release. Every so often, the Alpha gave a low sound. A growl...a groan…until he was moaning with every breath, keening as though he were a desperate bitch. Finally, he could handle no more and he held Redge’s hips tight in his big hands, moving him as he gave his shuddering thrusts, his eyes closing and his mouth dropping open.

“ _Uuuuughn! Uungh! Ahn!_ ” His come shot out of his twitching cock, thick ropes jetting out over Redge’s arched back, warm and wet and dripping. Frank was heaving, his hands still tight over the Omega’s hips

“What a good and decent slave,” Redge cooed over his shoulder. “You’ll have to tidy me up before you finish me off, of course…” He looked about for a spare little towel or even his discarded cravat but was duly shocked when he felt the flat of Frank’s tongue over his flesh, the man lapping up his own spend and now _fully_ committed to his role. His shock was so complete that when Frank was finished cleaning him with his tongue, he half-rolled and openly stared at the Alpha whose expression held clear intent to submit. He took a moment before his brain reminded him of his purpose and he stammered out, “Y-you...you should turn me over and finish me with your hands…”

He was moved carefully and reverently, his thighs opened so that Frank could sit between them and one of those large and loving hands came to his rigid little cock and the other dipped lower, toying with the tight entrance to his body. He let his head sink back among the pillows and willed his body to relax, raising his arms over his head so that he wouldn’t grip at the sheets. He was exposed thoroughly in the gray overcast light shining in through the windows and he knew that Frank was studying him--every plane of his body, every inch of his flesh. He was memorizing him.

“ _Mnngh!_ ” The breach of him was no more novel than every other breach and yet he knew that it would be deeper with the curl of Frank’s fingers inside him. He was so fraught with anticipation that the movement and the slide of his mate’s skin over his manhood along with the brush of his fingertips inside caused him to jerk his hips. His head tossed as the Alpha stroked him and fucked him with his hand, every motion experimental and yet no less exciting for it. When he came, it was with a great wracking set of shudders which caught his voice in his throat until the very end which found him choking out a shriek while his come spurted over his chest. The aftermath was marked by various spasms and twitches in his stomach and nethers, his entrance squeezing in odd contractions as pulses still swept over him. “ _Mmmmnnn..._ ” he tried, peering up at Frank through his lashes and not trustful yet of his mouth to speak.

Frank, nevertheless, seemed eager in his own recovery, his mouth curving into a delicate smile before he leaned and loomed over Redge’s soiled chest, his tongue sweetly tracing over the spattering of seed until he had, again, licked him all clean, leaving nothing but the cooling trails of his saliva.

“ _Uhn...oh...oh my god…_ ” Redge sighed, rubbing at his face with one hand. “And to think you once thought _me_ indecent.”

“Mmm,” he crooned softly, leaning down again with his smug grin upon his face to kiss and nibble at Redge’s lips. “I should never think my master indecent. I’ve no right...for I am naught but a _worthless cur._ ”

“Did you like that part?” he smiled. “I thought you might like it if I told you naughty things…”

“I did. It is strange to me that shame should make me feel like this...should make me lust for you even harder. And it is even stranger that I should feel better about...well about everything, when it is you who has taken me.”

He reached up, holding out his hand so that Frank should lean his cheek into his palm. “I will always be here for you, Frank. You’ve no need to be strong for me. I’ve plenty of strength myself.”

“How you always remind me...in the oddest of ways... _Master…_ ”

Redge chuckled, urging the Alpha to lay in his arms and pull the sheets up around them. They dozed like this together and took their supper in their room. There would be plenty of time for making things right. It would not take a single moment but a series of moments which could last years. Weirwood promised them something new. Something fresh. They would come to know each other fully over the time they spent there and there would be struggle but happiness beneath. It was where Redge had always known he would be happy and now he would have Frank to be happy with him.

The moonlight shone over them when they made love again in the evening, not as a master or a slave or a Turk or harem boy but as an Omega and his Alpha beginning to live happily ever after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Alright. To curb my unending depression I've been watching Bill Hader clips on YouTube and...oh yeah, taking my shiny new antidepressant. Who wants a hot Priest fucking a Prostitute in the old west? If you said "No" you're a weenie.


End file.
